Naze?
by Oramo
Summary: Two years after being trained as children to fight against Kumo and Iwa, Team 7 is forced to leave Naruto for dead. Ame rescues him and takes him in as one of their own. What will Naruto do? Slight Dark Akatsuki!Naruto
1. Why?

"talking"

'thinking'

_Passionate feelings/memories_

Naze?

_Why?_

A small boy, not yet six, ran through the streets of Konohagakure with a mischievous smile plastered onto his small, cherub-like face. His spindly little legs pounded against Konoha's golden-hued streets as he fought exhaustion to escape capture. Bright cerulean eyes excitedly glanced around a corner. Seeing that the street was clear of any pursuers, he sped down it, his wild mop of blond hair easily recognizable amidst the mass of dark-haired Konoha villagers. The boy's flight drew many glares and angry curses from the villagers walking along the busy street as he frantically ducked in and out of their legs…until they saw the boy's face. Upon discovering his identity, formerly angry villagers would swiftly turn their heel and continue walking towards their intended destination as if nothing had happened.

Despite this, Naruto Uzumaki appeared to be having the time of his life; yet, deep within his mind, even as he let out uproarious laughter at the genius of his most recent escapade, he was asking questions of himself that no child should ever have to consider. These thoughts, however, were not thoughts in real time. They weren't even coherent. Even in his memories, the thoughts he expressed were those of a person hardened by abuse. Instead, they were the innate feelings that had been imprinted upon his young mind by a lifetime of loneliness. Naruto the child refused to acknowledge this with the same vivacity as the villagers refused to acknowledge him. He knew deep down that there would come a time when he would have to recognize the fact that he would never have a real childhood. The mask he wore now was gradually fading. It might take years, but eventually Naruto would recognize the fact that he had never been and never would be a child. But that meant giving up on happiness with other people and Naruto loathed to do such a thing. The joy other children his age seemed to feel was too powerful to resist. He _had _to have that love…that acknowledgement.

At any rate, these thoughts were far away from the boy's attention now. Instead, another feeling stood at the forefront of his thoughts as he scurried across the streets:

_Why? _

Yes…why? It was always why. While he never thought to actually ask someone of this, his childish curiosity churned with restless energy as to why he was forced to endure the things he did. At first, he thought it a common thing for children to be alone and ignored. But as he watched others his age laughing and playing with the very same people who disregarded him, he could not help but grow curious. As time wore on, a new emotion emerged within its mind: anger. Anger at not knowing, anger at the reality of life, and most of all, anger at being alone. Oh how he would give for someone to talk to, laugh with, even _argue _with. Maybe that was why he pulled the pranks. At least this way people actually acknowledged his existence. Hell, before that incident a year ago, he would have been happy if they beat him up.

Another feeling suddenly appeared as he swerved around a cart:_ I do have one companion, one proof that I exist…those eyes._

Yes, the eyes were always there, looking down at him in a disgusted and scornful glare. They might be blue or brown, large or small, wide or squinted…but whenever the eyes of another were turned upon him, they were all the _same_. They ignored him, past him buy as he raced through the street…some of them even disregarded his presence when he ran into them while being chased. None of them, however, could help casting those hateful eyes upon him. They followed him everywhere, even when he was trying to make friends with the other kids at the park.

'The park,' he thought to himself as he sprinted around another corner. That place was the reason he was in his current predicament. It was that day that had changed him forever. The memory flooded back to him with the force of a raging river:

_Tears flew to the ground and exploded in a bright shower of water and light. The reflection of an old sandal appeared in the reflection of the liquid for a moment before quickly fading away into the distance. _

_Naruto was running through the forest with no idea or care where he ended up. Large welts pulsated furiously all across his body. It had been like any other miserable day. He pulled a few pranks, ran around laughing like an idiot so the villagers would notice him, then started the cycle over again. But today had been different. Today, Naruto had found Ichiraku's closed again. He hadn't seen the old man or his daughter for a few weeks now. They probably had no idea how important they were to him, but he had already started forgetting about him. What was the point of grieving over people who'd probably never cared about him in the first place? _

_Sorely needing food, Naruto had gone to a barbeque place. He had had to go to a different restaurant each time so that the owners wouldn't think they were "aiding" him too much. At least, that's what he thought the reason was. The owners of said restaurants, even as he was paying money for their food, acted as if he wasn't there. It was money from the Hokage himself. Wasn't that proof enough that he deserved some attention? Nevertheless, he had always gotten something to eat. _

_This owner, however, had completely ignored Naruto's attempts at purchasing food. At that moment, the boy lost it and began furiously screaming at the man . He had picked up a rock just outside and launched it into the glass container holding samples of the meat. The owner and several of his employees, enraged at Naruto, had managed to grab him and hold him down. They then proceeded to punch him over and over again. Naruto had never been subjected to any such treatment before and had screamed out in terror. The group abruptly halted their attack, horror evident upon their faces as they realized what they had done. They then quickly and anxiously returned to the restaurant, grim acceptance weighing their faces down. It was then that Naruto, after miraculously recovering from the wounds dealt him, had fled. He had run and run and run...just to escape the hell of his existence. For the first time in his life, Naruto considered suicide. Just to fade away forever…to drift slowly away in oblivion. Naruto stopped himself and leaned against the firm bark of a sturdy old tree. Glancing around the forest floor, he spotted a sharp looking rock near the edge of the park. Yes, he would do it. And then, when they realized that they had been the cause of the death of an innocent child, they would finally understand his pain and they would weep for him._

_And so, Naruto slowly ambled towards the stone, his mind filled with thoughts of people remembering him and acknowledging him. The forest was deathly silent as if frozen in apprehension of the deed to be done. Suddenly, a sound broke through the silence, causing Naruto to swerve his towards the park from whence it came. There, just a few yards in front of him, was a girl with the prettiest pink hair he'd ever seen. Of course, he'd never seen pink hair before but that didn't make it any less interesting or alluring. The rays of the sun gently flowed past the leaves of the forest and onto the girl, radiating her entire being in light. His hatred for his life forgotten, Naruto could not help but make his way over towards her. Before he could realize what he was doing, he was standing right beside her, breathing in the slight scent of cherry blossoms wafting off of her innocent red dress. It was then that he noticed her hunched over and shaking body. Curious, Naruto reached out his small hand and gentle nudged her with his finger. In an instant she swerved around, her face scrunched up in fear. Her beautiful jade eyes sparkled magnificently with tears, but were underscored by a pitiful red puffiness. Her lower lip quivered in anticipation of further misery, but Naruto quickly raised his hands to prevent her from crying. He hated seeing other people cry. Not only did it annoy him that others would think their suffering was worth sobbing over when there were others far worse off (namely himself), it also made him feel sad despite the lack of contact he had with others in his life. _

_Naruto waited for her to relax her cowering form before cautiously asking, "Why are you crying?" _

_The little girl's expression gradually began changing from one of fear into one of curiosity. After a moment's pause, she asked, "W-why do you care?" _

_In a rare moment, Naruto was at a loss for words. He had no idea why he'd approached the girl, let alone offer to comfort her. What if she ignored him like all the others? But as he stared into her eyes and gazed upon her small, curious face, memories of the loneliness of his entire life rushed through his head. Resolve began burning within him and he said with heroic conviction (all while striking the bravest pose he could pull off in his worn down orange clothes), "Because I hate to see other people sad! The birds are chirping, the sun is shining…you should be running around having the time of life! Come on, I've got some great ideas for what we can do. There's this one guy who's got a—_

_Before he could finish his speech, however, a frightened voice cried out, "SAKURA!"_

_The little girl turned at the yell and happily exclaimed, "Okaasan!"_

"_Eh?"_

_The girl smiled and replied, "That's my Okaasan! I'd better—oh wait! I forgot to give you my name. Well," she gave a short bow and then abruptly stood up with a bright smile, stating, "My name's Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you…"_

_Naruto stared at her for a moment, not understanding why her voice trailed off at the end. Sakura suddenly gave an exasperated sigh in a manner that suggested Naruto was a lost cause and asked, "What's _your_ name?"_

_Scratching his cheek sheepishly, he quickly responded, "My name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."_

_Smiling again, Sakura finished her hanging greeting, "Nice to meet you _Naruto_."_

_Her face unexpectedly became serious and, casting her eyes to the ground while shyly resting her left foot behind her right, said, "T-thanks for trying to cheer me up. I-I—"_

_Seeing her lip begin to quiver again, Naruto hurriedly cut in, "Hey, no problem! You were actually doing me a favor. I really don't get to…um, play with other kids and well—"_

_A very long shadow darkened the area around Naruto, immediately freezing him in shock. Quickly staring upwards, he saw a very tall (for him at least) peach-haired woman forcefully lifting up Sakura and carrying her away. _

_Before Naruto could panic, Sakura squealed indignantly, "Okaasan!"_

_Sighing in relief that the woman was not a stranger, Naruto began to turn away, content with the time he spent with Sakura. Suddenly he heard Sakura's light voice call out, "Bye Naruto! Hope you to see you at the Ninja Academy next year!"_

_Naruto swerved around to see Sakura waving cheerfully back at him, whilst her mother stared at her in incredulity. In an instant Sakura's mother was shooting Naruto one of the most vicious glares he had ever seen, as if daring him to wave back. He would have been very happy to run away from her at that point if it had not been for the hurt expression that was slowly beginning to take shape on Sakura's face. Again, Naruto felt resolve empower his body. He would _not _give in to them this time and he would certainly not lose the only friend he had ever had. Staring defiantly back at the Sakura's mother, Naruto yelled out, "SEE YOU SAKURA! AND I _WILL _BE AT THE ACADEMY!" _

_While Sakura beamed at him, her mother's glare had turned into a murderous snarl, which was enough to send Naruto scampering back through the park as fast as his legs could carry him. _

_As he was fleeing (fleeing in victory, he assured himself), he pondered over Sakura's words. He had always been pretty quick when it came to understanding foreign and confusing concepts (he had taught himself to read by stealing books from the vendors after all), but Sakura's mention of the Ninja Academy was different. It flew straight in the face of one of the few laws Naruto was aware of: one had to be at least eight years old to enter the Ninja Academy and must graduate by age twelve to become a Genin. In a year, Naruto guessed that she would, like him, be around six. Legally, it was impossible for her to enter the Academy. She could be one of those "geniuses" that were granted early access to a ninja education, but he found that to be highly unlikely given the wretched manner in which he found her._

_Before he could find a solution to his question, another problem presented itself: Naruto didn't want to become a ninja. He understood the benefits of attaining such incredible powers, but he had seen firsthand the fates of those shinobi who had been wounded during the last Great War. How couldn't he? He saw them in his part of the town all the time, stuck into a cheap home by the Council so they could die without bothering anybody. While Konoha was renowned for its emphasis on teamwork and the compassion of the Sandaime Hokage, it was a shinobi village at heart; meaning, it had no use for broken tools. Naruto knew what it felt like to be ignored…to be tossed aside like an old toy. _

_No, Naruto did not want to become a ninja… the risks were too high. Why should he do it because some girl was going there as well? _

_Images of his Sakura's brilliant smile entered his head, filling him with an unknown sensation in side his chest. How could he, in good conscience, be the cause of breaking that smile?_

_As Naruto continued to debate with himself, he abruptly tripped over a brand new looking scroll. Naruto stood up so quickly so as to get home before nighttime that he nearly missed the bold letters scrawled ever so rigidly upon the scroll's body. The proud black print almost forced him to take a glance and when he did, terrible understanding crushed down upon him:_

_**WAR WITH KUMO! **_

_**LET THE FIRE OF KONOHA LEAD THE WAY TO VICTORY!**_

_**Sandaime Hokage refuses to give in to unjust demands**_

_**All children ages six to eight will immediately be conscripted into Ninja Academy—**_

_Naruto stopped reading. That was it. His life had just been laid out before him and he had no say in it. During peacetime, he was fairly certain that most of Konoha would have been avidly opposed to his becoming a ninja had he the desire to. Wartime was an entirely different matter. It was much more likely for a Genin, no matter how strict wartime training was, to get killed or seriously wounded in war. He could hear the celebrations now as word of his death spread around Konoha like a wildfire. _

'_No, no, no, no, NO! They will not have me…they will not own my life. They think they can make me a shinobi? Fine, if they want me to be one of their little soldiers so bad then I'll give them one: I'll become Jounin, no Anbu! No wait…Hokage. Yes, that'll shut 'em up for good! And then, when I have that hat in my hands and the crowd's looking at me with awe and respect in their eyes…I'll refuse the pos—', he abruptly stopped as a new feeling emerged within him._

_'Heh',_ _he had thought sadly, no I won't. If someone offered me the title of Hokage right now, I'd probably take it and do as best I could to fulfill my duties, just for the recognition it would give me. How noble of me…'_

_'But then again,' he continued relentlessly, 'if I don't do anything and waste away my life like this, they'd win and for some unholy reason I cannot allow that to happen. By becoming the exact opposite of what they think I am, I can't help but earn their respect…right? Ah what the hell, not like I have choice. Besides, Sakura will be there and I would die before I'd let her get killed in some dumbass war. How could I? She smiled at me, she waved to me, she _acknowledged_ me and she pulled me out of myself without even trying. I have to do my best protect her and help her become strong enough so she won't ever have to cry again…so she can brighten everyone's life with that smile of hers. I think I can do really well as ninja, but I can't let anyone else know that. Not even Sakura. Best to play it dumb and keep on with the pranks…don't want the Council prying into my affairs. From the way everyone looks at me it's as if they think I'm some dangerous beast. No need to give them any proof. Just play it cool Naruto…or in this case, play it as hot-tempered, obnoxious, and stupid as you can.' _

And so, Naruto had planned and pranked his way into infamy for a year in anticipation of his induction into the Ninja Academy. It was all towards securing a spot as one of the weakest and most foolish ninja in Konoha. To do that, he would have to make an entrance no one would be able to forget. That was why he had pulled this last prank. The villagers chasing him into the classroom would add a nice touch as he burst into the classroom late and panting. He hadn't left himself must choice, after all. Dousing an entire street of vendors with paint-filled water balloons tended to arouse…passionate emotions.

Needless to say, Naruto was hard-pressed to stay ahead of the mob. His breath came in shallow wheezes as he rounded the final corner onto the street leading to the Academy.

"Ah hell," he whispered to himself with a faint, humorless smile on his face as his chest burned in agony, "gettin' a little tired."

Coincidentally, this was also the point that he realized a flaw in his plans. The Ninja Academy was separated from the rest of the village buildings by a small, empty path. Though there was a fenced off area and several other objects surrounding, little else occupied the space of this path, including villagers. For Naruto, this was a huge problem, as the only way he had been able to stay ahead of the mob chasing him was to duck through the large morning crowds of Konoha with his tiny body. With no one to act as an obstacle, Naruto's once helpful size was now a severe detriment to his escape.

Naruto knew he had no chance of outrunning the villagers, but that was what made it fun. And it was very fun to see those imbeciles waddling after him like pigs…until he tripped over a small rock and was sent tumbling across the ground.

The villagers were on him in seconds, screaming at him in lungs that Naruto was sure were enhanced by the gods. Then the kicks started coming. The only human contact Naruto ever remembered having had was that of the restaurant owner a year ago and that had nearly caused him to commit suicide. This…this was far worse. At least the restaurant owner had realized the horror of what he was doing. These people—these villagers of the kind and friendly Konoha—were purposefully beating on him with every ounce of hatred in their bones.

Naruto quickly sank back into the depression that plagued a year ago. But as the beating continued, he began to feel something else. A kick landed squarely on his ribs and the feeling grew. A fist pounded into his head and the feeling, now a brightly burning fire, began to spread throughout his entire being. And the pain…it was like putrid blanket that covered his body. Blood popped out of his skin with every blow and he could _hear _his bones crack under the strain of the pressure. But with every blow, the fire inside of him grew stronger and fiercer until it burned its way into his head. He screamed…and that was all. He could nothing.

A familiar voice suddenly sounded throughout his head, _Helpless…weak…that's all that I am. I am nothing and I will always— no. No, no, NO! I HATE THEM! I WANT THEM TO BURN…I WANT THEM ALL TO BURN FOREVER IN THE FIRES OF MY WRATH!_

Power surged through him, but before Naruto could comprehend what was happening, the pain abruptly disappeared. In its place was a reassuring hand on his shoulder and kind voice whispering, "Hey…hey kid! Are you alright?"

Naruto ventured a cautious peek at the source of the hand and was relieved to see the mob gone. The hand gently holding his shoulder belonged to a Chuunin with a strange scar across his nose and a pineapple ponytail haircut.

Giving Naruto a once over, he asked with a hint of sadness in his voice, "Uzumaki Naruto, right?"

He nodded hurriedly to which the Chuunin sighed, his downcast in what appeared to be shame. In a moment he looked back into Naruto's eyes with a bright smile and said, "Umino Iruka, instructor at the Ninja Academy. The Hokage wanted me to make sure you got here okay, but…" he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I guess I was a little late."

Naruto scowled viciously, "Yeah, just a _little _late. Did you see what they did to me? I mean, look…at…me—what the hell?!"

To Naruto's great confusion, and slight consternation, his entire body was as clean and wound-free as it had been the day he was born (not that he knew what he looked like on the day he was born). He started when he felt a sharp tap on his forehead. Staring up angrily, he was slightly surprised to see Iruka's perturbed face hovering over him.

Before he could react, the Chuunin stated irritably, "And exactly why was a mob chasing you _after _class started?"

'That was a rapid change,' Naruto thought, his mouth slightly ajar.

Apparently, Naruto's agape mouth was enough of an answer for the teacher, as the boy soon found himself being dragged into the Academy, past the awkward-looking mob members, and into the classroom. Naruto briefly spotted Sakura, her brilliant emerald eyes brimming with worry, and gave a half-hearted wave. The class, misinterpreting the gesture as being directed towards them, burst into raucous laughter.

Naruto couldn't help but smile as well, 'Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought.'


	2. Tears of a Clown

**A/N**: Sorry for the late update, but as you might be able to tell, this is a very long chapter and it took me a great deal of time to do it (probably more than necessary). Just want to thank those of you who have subscribed/reviewed my first ever fanfic. I just signed up a week ago and I hope I'll be able to bring my writing skills up to a professional level. For this reason, I encourage all of you to review my story and tell others about it so that they can read and review it as well. I need the constructive criticism of unbiased readers to improve my writing. Is the story taking too long to get going? Am I making characters believable? Please, any and all _constructive _criticism is welcome. Also, there will be absolutely no Team 7 or Kakashi bashing in this story. The only way an author can pull that off is to make the characters really, _really _OOC.

On another note, I plan to have a two year time-skip later in this chapter and a four year time-skip at the end of the third chapter. Also, I'm planning on having Anko be around a year older than Naruto, but I won't reveal all of her life until later. I want to stay as true to Anko as possible, but considering her age, I think I'll have to make a bit less sadistic and sensual than canon. Let me know what you think. Also some of you might notice Naruto is exhibiting sensory abilities slightly higher than an average human's. I don't really want to make Naruto have the senses of a demon and I am not going to make him a hanyou, but there might be room for something akin to that. By the later stages of the third chapter it will be irrelevant, but, again, I'd like to know what you think about it. I'd also like to clear something up that I felt I left unexplained: Naruto's thoughts are beginning to mature and I represent this by having his matured thoughts in italics and his "dobe" thoughts in single quotations. This will disappear eventually as Naruto matures more, but let me know if this is too confusing in case I use it for future stories/characters.

Another part of this story I want make clear to you is that Naruto will obtain a Kekkei Genkai. Before you exit out and give up on this story, I want to assure you that it will not be some all-powerful, Kekkei Genkai-mimicking ability. I spent a lot of time researching other Bloodline limits and I believe mine is quite original and, most importantly, realistic. While it does allow for some pretty cool things, the drawbacks even it out. This will not be a "Super Naruto" story. While Naruto will be significantly more powerful than he was in the canon Chuunin Exams, he will _definitely_ not be at Kakashi's level by the Chuunin Exams. As the story progresses into Shippuden time, Naruto's growth will be realistic. Again, let me know what you think.

The story will start rolling in the fourth chapter where I'll introduce a lot of the plot and action that most of you probably feel is lacking after reading this chapter. So, without further ado, I present Chapter Two of _Naze?_, titled "Tears of a Clown".

Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto _or anything that has to do with it in any way shape or form and I don't own "Tears of a Clown", sung by Smokey Robinson some forty-odd years ago (don't worry, there won't be any songs or lyrics in this fic; I'm only using the song's title for the chapter title).

'thoughts'

"talking"

_Passionate feelings/memories_

Naze?

_Tears of a Clown_

_Tap…tap…tap…ta—CRUNCH!_

Naruto glared down at his broken pencil in disgust, then quickly replaced it with another from his pocket. He was on edge. No, he was past the edge and hurtling towards his doom. So many questions, so many possible scenarios, all of which he ended negatively, raged across his mind. Normally he wouldn't have been so anxious or wasting his time pretending to listen to Iruka's droning. In fact, what he _should _have been doing (at least in his mind) was practicing that damnable Bunshin jutsu. Why the hell couldn't he do it but that idiot Sasuke could? But truthfully, his nervousness stemmed from that the fact that today was the Genin Exam…and he was positive he would fail it even if he went all out.

He, the brilliant and noble Naruto, had spent a year in this godforsaken place securing his position as the dead-last, the "dobe", of the class so as not to draw suspicion from the Council. The bright-orange jumpsuit, the loud and obnoxious voice, the pranks…all were testaments to his efforts. To Naruto's angst, this was a lot easier than he had first assumed. While the written tests and lessons were easy to complete and follow, putting what he learned into practice was far harder than he had ever hoped. Add in the accelerated jutsu curriculum for the war and Naruto was hard-pressed to just keep up, let alone become the most powerful ninja ever in secret so that one day he could blow all of his peers away, after which they would worship—

_Stop day dreaming idiot,_ he thought, reprimanding himself for such childish thoughts. _I have to concentrate on how to fix this. These jutsu…why are they so hard for me? The Bunshin and Henge are E-Class jutsu. _E-Class jutsu!_ When I try to do them, I can feel the jutsu in my hands …and then I squash it into nothing. Wh—_

"NARUTO!"

Awaken from his reverie, Naruto found himself staring at the massive vein in Iruka's forehead. Unsure of what to do, the boy chuckled desperately and asked in the politest way possible, "You need something Iruka-sensei?"

"I asked you a _question _Naruto…five minutes ago!"

_That's a bit of an exaggeration I think_, Naruto thought.

"So?"

Staring quizzically up at the teacher, Naruto replied in the most intelligent manner possible, "So what?"

This elicited several giggles…which were quickly quieted when Iruka sent a furious scowl at the entire class. When perfect silence was achieved, Iruka continued in a strained voice, "Naruto, I need an answer to my question."

Grinning, the six-year-old replied, all the while pointing at the large map pasted to the blackboard, "The Fourth and Fifth Shinobi Battalions should move into C position sensei."

Naruto's grin spread up to his ears upon seeing the dumbfounded expressions his classmates were giving him. Most especially priceless was the look on Iruka-sensei's face.

Laughing, Naruto thought, 'Kind of a hybrid between angry, shocked, awed, and…is that satisfaction? Ha! So he _does _care about his students. I'll never let him live this down!'

Naruto's snickering drew a murderous glare from his teacher, causing the boy to seriously consider rethinking his previous assessment. Fortunately, a loud ringing sound resounded throughout the classroom, signaling the conclusion of the session. The class, however, remained seated. Naruto distinctly remembered what had happened when the class started dismissing before Iruka had given them permission. Not pretty.

And so, the hopeful Genin-to-be sat quietly, if not patiently, in their seats. Naruto watched as Iruka-sensei swept hopeful eyes across the entire class. When he finally came to Naruto, a small, encouraging smile gently spread across his face. Surprised, Naruto blinked, only to find Iruka giving his full attention to the entirety of the class as if he had never looked at him at all. After another moment's pause, he announced, "All of you know that the Genin Exam is to be held today. It will determine whether or not you become one of the defenders of our people, our way of life, and our dreams as a village."

Naruto's eyes widened along with the rest of the class, _It's not really that serious…is it? What the hell have I gotten into?_

Glancing around him, Naruto noticed Sakura's normally observant face glowing with anticipation and resolve.

'Ah nuts. I can't let Sakura go into battle without me there to protect her; or at least a chance at me keeping her safe.' _Not that I could really be much help…_, he added dejectedly.

Naruto soon found himself back into the mental rut he built for himself in his attempts to think of a way to pass. It was only several minutes later that he heard Iruka's voice rise in volume, indicating an end to the speech.

"…and now that that's out of the way, all I need to tell you is that the Genin Exam will be held this afternoon at 5:00 PM. That means you have around two hours to prepare. So in conclusion, I want you to know that it has been an honor to teach you and I hope that you will be able to defend and aid Konoha to the best of your abilities as Shinobi. Class dismissed."

The students poured out of the classroom with the vivacity of raging river, save for a few of the more aloof members of the class. All of them, however, felt nothing but apprehension and terror at the thought of what the Genin Exam might hold. Naruto thought he recalled Iruka mentioning something about "expect the unexpected" or something along those lines. He had been too busy not paying to attention to notice. But Naruto was positive the Bunshin would be on it, damnable thing that it was.

As he walked through the ever-increasing crowd of children anxious to exit the Academy, Naruto frantically tried to think of way to pass the exam. What he could he do in two hours that he hadn't tried the whole year?

_There'll be taijutsu, assassination, genjutsu testing…and ninjutsu. The Bunshin's just beyond me for some reason, so I can't worry about it. The Hokage forbid us to learn the other ninjutsu Iruka mentioned over the course of the year until our Jounin sensei was assigned to us. Something about how the young are corrupted by it or whatever. _

'What was that guy's name? Oroma…Orochi'—_ah, getting off track!_

Naruto grabbed his head and shook it as hard as he could, moaning all the while. Suddenly, sunlight exploded into his vision. He squinted his eyes in pain…until a giant red dome erupted into his line of sight.

'Of course! If anyone can help me it'd be Ojisan.'

With that, the blond-haired child sprinted off towards the Hokage Tower, purpose driving his muscles to greater speeds.

* * *

The secretarial position of the Hokage Tower's front desk was a job few envied and even fewer applied for. Annyui Juujun couldn't have agreed more. The thirtyish secretary went through five days a week of sitting on her rump with only the Hokage's most menial work to entertain her. Naturally, this caused her disposition to appear cold and foreboding towards visitors. In truth, Annyui enjoyed the company and conversation of others as much as most other villagers…just not after sitting in the same spot for hours on end. Despite that, she felt her position held some importance. She was the barrier between the Hokage and the common folk, after all. Deep down, she recognized the audacity of such thoughts, but Annyui felt she needed some semblance of significance to endure the monotony of her job/

When Naruto Uzumaki burst through the entrance to the Hokage Tower demanding, in the most insufferably loud voice imaginable, to see the Hokage, this false feeling of importance, coupled with her boredom and hatred of the demon brat, caused her scowl viciously.

Unfortunately, the boy didn't take the hint and yelled, _yelled_, in the same voice he had held within his accursed lungs for his entire miserable existence, "I need to see the Hokage now old lady!"

Rage. Pure and unadulterated wrath. All of these were words unfit to describe the inferno roaring within her. Not only had this _thing _disregarded everything that kept her sane while performing her job, he had insulted her. Annyui snapped at the point, screaming with every ounce of fury she held with her, "YOU LITTLE…LITTLE…_DEMON! _Get out, get out, GET OUT!"

To her _immense _satisfaction, the small boy cowered beneath her as she stood to her full height. While not very tall in comparison to others her age, she easily dwarfed the undersized child.

Annyui was so caught up her victory over the usually obstinate Naruto that she only had time to swerve her head in shock when he sprinted around her desk towards the stairs leading to the Hokage's office. In her attempt to maneuver her body out of the desk semicircle, Annyui twisted her ankle and slammed her head into the desk's corner. She fell to her side immediately, a small trickle of blood signifying her fading consciousness. The last thing she saw was Naruto Uzumaki staring down at her with a look of concern, before a victorious smirk began inching its way across his face.

* * *

Naruto reviewed his handiwork with a critical eye. The secretary-obasan needed to look exactly like she was sleeping. This was difficult considering how much smaller Naruto was than the woman and even more so with the limited time he had to accomplish this task. This problem was soon fixed with a very conveniently located stool. Placing the stool next to the chair, he climbed on top of the average sized desk and pulled the woman onto the chair. As he was manipulating the poor soul's body into a relatively believable sitting position, Naruto encountered another problem in the form of a warm sensation creeping down his arm. Gazing upwards, Naruto found himself staring into a light, two-inch gash strewn across the woman's forehead.

The boy's thoughts upon seeing the wound were quite straight-forward, _Eh, disgusting. Serves her right for calling me a demon. I should just leave her as is…_, though this line of thinking quickly turned into guilt (and realization that a bleeding secretary would arouse suspicion), _but I can't leave her like this. Besides, someone's bound to notice the pool of blood sooner or later. And if she happens to end up enduring a major migraine for the rest of her life…well, sacrifices have to be made sometimes._

It was with this small consolation that Naruto removed his shirt, tore a small strip out of the cloth, and wrapped it around the woman's slowly bleeding cut. With this done, Naruto leapt off of the desk and pushed the chair towards said desk until the edge touched the secretary's bosom. Leaping back onto the desk, Naruto stretched the woman's right arm across the desktop until the elbow was properly situated. Then, he bent her forearm up to her face and placed her hand over the dark bandage.

Throughout the entire process, Naruto would glance over his shoulder every few seconds, expecting an Anbu to burst through the doors and impale him with a ninja-to. This hampered his progress to the point that, by the time he was finished, only an hour remained until the Genin Exam started.

Climbing off of the desk, Naruto glanced one last time at the secretary before sprinting off up the stairs.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, a camouflaged Anbu hanging from the ceiling disappeared to an unknown location with a small smirk gracing his lips.

* * *

The layout of the Hokage Tower was rather simple: a small lobby at the base, stairs winding around the tower in a spiral with a floor for administrative offices at each spiral's curve, the Hokage's personal office at the very top; and all of it was built in the finest and sturdiest oak that the Shodai Hokage's Mokuton abilities could create, with sun-tanned stone covering the outside and the ever-present crimson dome marking it out amongst all the buildings of Konoha. Thought the Hokage Tower dwarfed most of these other buildings in size, it was a relatively small in comparison to the buildings of other villages, namely Suna. Naruto, however, felt the Tower was large enough.

To the six-year old, each step was a gigantic hurdle that could have been jumped as easily as walked over…meaning Naruto, although possessing stamina greater than an average adult's…found his young body sweating and panting midway through the third flight of stairs. Despite this, Naruto was still able to comprehend how amazingly coincidental it was for every guard in the Hokage Tower to mysteriously disappear on the day he decided to visited the Sandaime. Of course, dodging the bored employees of the Hokage presented an obstacle, but it was trivial for someone as accustomed to moving around undetected as Naruto. Even if he was found out, it wasn't as if he was committing a crime. For Naruto, however, his very presence within the Hokage Tower _was_ a crime. Hence, the fear of capture and punishment.

Rounding another curve in the staircase, Naruto finally came to the floor where Ojisan's office was located. The Hokage's office was situated at the center of a circular path within a large cylinder. The cylinder was large enough to occupy most of the floor's space, leaving around six feet of emptiness for someone to walk through around said cylinder. From the short time he had spent with Ojisan and visited his workplace, Naruto remembered that the entrance to the office was on the opposite side of the entrance to the staircase.

Whisker marks twitching with anticipation, Naruto cautiously tiptoed over to the cylinder and flattened his tiny body against it. From there, Naruto began edging his way across ancient wood, his small feet padding softly against the worn bark of the floor. The rich scent wafting off of the bark sent slight waves of relaxation throughout his body. It vaguely reminded him of a large oak tree he had climbed during a moment of boredom. Both then and now, the aroma seemed to refresh and revitalize his tired appendages. In any case, it was far better than the stale odor that lingered throughout the lower levels of the Tower. Naruto had no idea what caused it, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the cleaning chemicals used to sanitize the building.

Even as Naruto amused himself with his own thoughts, his eyes, honed from an entire year of dodging angry prank victims, rapidly scanned every inch of the floor in front of it before walking across it. It was during one of these scans that Naruto noticed an indistinct distortion at the end of the next curve. Moving forward ever so slightly until he reached the edge of the curve, Naruto brought himself into position directly above the distortion and took another glance at it.

_Wire. Ah dammit, how many are there?_

Naruto stared long and hard at the wire, burning its image into his memory, before searching the floor for others. From what he could see, a carefully laid grid of trap wire covered the space between Naruto and the door.

_Probably the same on the other side too. I could try actually hopping through the openings, but I'm guessing a mistake means death. Maybe I could use _that_ jutsu…_

While the Hokage forbid Genin of any age to perform jutsu higher than C-Rank, Genin were still allowed to be taught weaker versions of higher ranking jutsu. Naruto had had little success with these jutsu for much the same reason as the Bunshin. It always felt like he was putting too much or too little into the jutsu for it to be effective. There was one technique, however, that Naruto, for whatever reason, had a particular aptitude for. And if it failed now, Naruto feared he would have to give up. He didn't want to die after all.

Initially classified at D-Rank, Naruto had improved the jutsu to the point where he could cut through three inches of stone…though that particular feat required an astonishing number of hand signs that the boy felt took far too long to perform. Besides, wires were far easier to cut than stones.

Head buzzing with excitement, Naruto quickly scampered as far away from the wires as he could while still keeping them within sight.

_Okay Naruto, deep breath. Just like you practiced…_

Forming three hand seals in relatively quick succession, Naruto cried out, "Soyokaze no Jutsu!"

_I can't shout out what I'm doing like some idiot. I gotta work on that._

Despite his momentary lapse in concentration, Naruto felt his chakra trickle into the surrounding air and push it swiftly towards the wires. All was still for several seconds. Just as Naruto was beginning to fear he had failed, the soft glow of sunlight streaming through the windows caught the gleam of dozens of small objects protruding from the ground and floor. Cautiously creeping towards the edge of the tripwire grid, Naruto bore witness to a countless number of kunai and shuriken covering the floor, the wires holding them in place laying limply beside them.

'It worked, it worked! The kunai and shuriken must have been released so quietly I couldn't hear them…and I barely felt Soyokaze take affect! Oh, I have no idea how I did it and I don't care. I disabled an Anbu trap…or something like that. Ojisan will be so proud of me! Maybe he'll promote to Genin right now—hey, couldn't I have just called out for Ojisan to help…me…ah dammit. But I didn't need his help…I did it on my own! Ha, I am Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage and protector of all that is good!'

All of Naruto's anxiety and depression about the Genin Exam evaporated at that moment. He strutted through the deadly field of blades with a smugness that would have made put Sasuke to shame…until he tripped over a stray shuriken. Naruto threw his hands out and slammed them into the ground, letting his body hover inches over the sharp edges of three kunai.

"Think like a dobe and you _are _a dobe you baka," he whispered venomously to himself as he carefully lifted his body into his standing position.

Naruto took several deep breaths before softly treading on through the deadly weapons, his eyes peeled for any possible fall-inducing obstacles. His heart pounded against his chest with painful force as he gently stepped his foot over a shuriken. Each step sent shivers of anxiety throughout his body until he finally stood in front of the door. He exhaled deeply. Here he was, an Academy student, asking the Hokage to…

_What the hell am I going to ask him? To teach me how to do the Bunshin_, he glanced outside at the quickly setting sun, _in maybe thirty minutes? Whatever…I might as well ask him to help me now that I'm here. _

Before the quickly-growing anxiety within his gut took hold over him, Naruto impulsively pounded his hand against the door. He waited and waited…and waited. Growing impatient, Naruto knocked again with a little more force. Again he waited and again there was no response.

Groaning, he thought, 'Where the hell is he? I don't have time for this! Ah forget it, I'm goin' in!'

Naruto wound up his right fist and crashed it into the door. All that greeted him was a loud _thunk_ from the door…and a jolt of pain powerful enough to numb his entire arm.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, _ow!_ That hurt dammit!"

Naruto shook his arm frantically in an attempt to relieve the stress and then cradled it in his chest with an astonishing amount of tenderness. He stared at the door long and hard. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary and he could sense no chakra being emitted from it anywhere. Though, he had to admit that his chakra sensing abilities were probably not even in the same league with the chakra hiding skills of the Anbu.

Radiant blue orbs examined every inch of the inconspicuous portal; from the carefully molded wooden bark to the crimson lining decorating it to the richly ornate handle, it was without a doubt as magnificent as a common door could be.

_Common door…_, Naruto suddenly thought, realization dawning upon him.

Naruto scratched his cheek with his index finger, assumed an exasperated look, swiftly placed his left hand on the handle and easily turned it downwards, opening the door. Naruto, quickly looking past his failure to eliminate the obvious solutions to his former problem, deepened his scowl upon seeing the indiscernible darkness within.

"Ojisan," Naruto called out tentatively.

Not even an echo answered him.

Sighing dejectedly, Naruto stepped into the pitch black of the Hokage's empty office, his arms helplessly waving around him in search of something to hold onto. His memory of the office was blurry at best. The last time he'd been here was a year and half ago and he'd been too excited at the potential for free dinner to pay attention to his surroundings. As a result, all Naruto could do was flail himself about the room in hopes of finding some source of light.

Eventually, he stumbled into the wall, banging his head against the hard stone and subsequently catching hold of a smooth, wooden desk. Naruto explored the desk with his fingers, reaching around, across, and into objects with frenzied speed, until he came upon the cold chill of metal. Feeling his way around the metallic thing through the darkness, Naruto's hand eventually came upon a uniquely smooth surface.

_Wax…candle!_

Naruto quickly latched onto it and hugged it tightly to his bosom. However brave Naruto thought he was, the darkness that permeated everything around him like a thick goo created terrible fear within him. He was afraid to move, to breathe, to think…it wrapped around him and held him in place with demonic strength. The movement before had been mere adrenaline. A mere reaction to the darkness. Now that he could see the massive void around him, Naruto was deeply afraid.

_Gotta…gotta find some way to light this. Reach baka. Reach into the desk_, he did so, the fine wood caressing his hand with refined pleasure, _now feel around for metal, matches, anything flammable. A match, yes!_

Naruto struck the thin piece of wood against the desk so hard he feared he had snapped. Feeling that it was intact, it struck it again several more times before a small flame erupted from its end. Excitement racing through him, he eagerly placed the flame onto the wick of the candle and was delighted when it ignited with warmth an dvision.

The flame soon grew to a decent size, instilling Naruto with enough confidence to extinguish the match and hold the candle stick out in front of him with his left hand, while his right shielded it against any stray breezes. Immediately the shadows retreated back into their unknown sanctuary, allowing the light to illuminate the now considerably smaller and less intimidating office.

Though the reach of the light was small and dim, Naruto felt relieved to be able to have some semblance of vision and happily took in his surroundings. The Hokage's office was home to many trinkets and objects that Naruto assumed were valuable, though in truth he had no idea of their worth. There were daggers and swords, statues and paintings, wooden carvings and scrolls, carefully placed and organized in a manner that pleased some unknown form. And then, Naruto's eyes came upon the largest scroll he had ever seen. It stood out proudly amidst the other treasures of the office as it lay against the wall.

Sidling up to it, Naruto let his hand brush against the wooden planks that made up the scrolls body, excitement racing through his fingers as he realized the potential for growth within. Unlike the wood of the Hokage Tower, the scroll smelled of ancient and musty knowledge, far removed from the posh richness that dominated the office of the Hokage. Without hesitation, Naruto grasped the scroll, with as much tenderness as he could, and unraveled it upon the carpeted floor beneath his feet.

_Holy…_

Within the tomes of the scroll were detailed descriptions of jutsu forbidden by the Hokages themselves. They were the infamous kinjutsu of Konoha. Elegant black kanji flowed across the scroll's innards in the most alluring manner imaginable. Any reservations Naruto had about using these jutsu—any confusion as to why such a valuable item would be laid out in clear view—were quickly erased when he gazed upon the boldly painted symbols. This was further exacerbated when Naruto realized the massive potential for growth and power that each jutsu held. This soon waned, however, when he saw how difficult most of the jutsu actually were. For a terrible moment, Naruto feared he was too weak to use the knowledge that lay before him…until his eyes rested upon a jutsu written in the same bold black kanji that awed him in the first place.

"Taju…Kage…Bunshin no Jutsu," he read aloud quietly. Continuing, he read, "Uses enormous amount of chakra, can kill user if not performed when at full chakra capacity. A-rank jutsu."

Absorbing this information, Naruto quickly set about discerning whether or not he could use it, _It's a Bunshin jutsu, so I'll probably be able to use it during the Genin Exam; but the part about using a lot of chakra worries me. _

At the end of this thought, another one was soon conceived, _Large amounts of chakra…what if that's my problem? The amount of chakra I possess is disproportionate to my age and, therefore, my control. Because a Bunshin requires a tiny amount of chakra, I smother it with my large amount. This Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu might be a solution. But it says here that it makes hundreds of clones. Iruka-sensei would probably fail me for making too many…he'd want me to have enough control to make a few. I wonder if there's a modified version…_

As he wondered about this, he came across a subset within the Taju Kage Bunshin's description, which he read aloud, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu: requires far more chakra than a normal Bunshin, but much less than its advanced form (Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu). Clones are corporeal, possess equal amount of chakra and take on roughly the same physical characteristics as user. Memories and chakra of clones are sent back to user upon dispelling of clones."

_Corporeal clones? Memory transfer? This could be huge!_

His former enthusiasm quickly returning to him and empowering his limbs, Naruto searched for the instructions on how to perform the jutsu.

_One hand sign? Guess the only reason it's forbidden is the chakra drainage. Well, I suppose the only way to find out is to do it._

Exhaling deeply, Naruto formed Tiger signs with both hands and crossed them together. Gathering chakra together, he shouted out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Instantly, four puffs of smoke filled the room, blowing out the candle in Naruto's hand in When they did, four identical Naruto's stood happily around their creator, fox-like grins covering their faces.

Upon seeing the success of his jutsu, a similar grin spread across Naruto's own face…only there was an ambitious gleam in the original's eye that would have recalled painful memories from those who knew the traitorous Sannin Orochimaru. Naruto had no idea of this however and, after dispelling his clones, strapped the scroll to his back and sped out of the office.

In a hidden room adjacent to the office, the Sandaime Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi allowed a small smile to grace his weathered face as he watched the young boy through his crystal ball.

_Do not disappoint me Naruto._

_

* * *

_

Umino Iruka tapped his finger impatiently against the top of the desk.

_Dammit, where are you Naruto? I don't want to start without you…_

An impatient sigh abruptly interrupted his thoughts. Glancing up sharply, Iruka found himself witness to the intense glares of his students. Even the normally polite Uchiha Sasuke had an angry look upon his face.

_I've given you a half-hour Naruto. I can't wait any longer or I'll incur the wrath of the students' parents…I'm sorry._

Iruka stood up and sighed. Gathering up the papers on his desk into a neat pile, he made a small motion to the students to stand. For several moments, Iruka stared at the door, hoping against hope that Naruto would burst through the door, foxy grin and orange clothes blazing with life…but the door remained still.

Finally, Iruka accepted Naruto's absence as reality and addressed the class, "Alright, looks like everybody's here. We'll start off with a taijutsu spar, which will be comprised of one-on-one fights where the defeated will be eliminated from the graduation process. The next phase will be introduced—"

A loud crash in the hallway drew everyone's attention immediately. Hope grew with the joy of a bubble within Iruka's chest, _Could it be?_

Within moments, the formerly motionless door flew open, revealing a thick cloud of white smoke and out of the smoke leapt a golden-haired youth clad in the brightest orange conceivable, a grin as brilliant as the hair atop his head splashed across his face.

The very air was filled with repressed energy as the students stared in amazement at their classmate. A mischievous glint in his eye, Naruto's grin smoothed into a smirk. Sarcasm and confidence dripping from his voice, the boy asked Iruka, "Aw Iruka-sensei, you weren't gonna start without your star pupil were you?"

* * *

Excited. That was the only word Naruto could think of to describe the wonderful tingling that rushed throughout his body like a river. He was standing in the middle of the classroom with the students who had managed to pass the first three portions of the test.

_The twenty-seven who passed the Taijutsu portion are all still here. And so am _I_._

He had to stop himself from laughing in delight. Taijutsu, assassination, and genjutsu had all come to him with the intent of failing him and separating him from his beloved Sakura forever…and by some divine will he had passed them all. Now he stood proudly amidst his classmates, waiting for the ninjutsu portion of the exam. It was here that Naruto knew he had to prove himself. That was how they determined who would become shinobi and who would become foot soldiers. Naruto distinctly recalled the day that Iruka had explained the process to the class, and he vividly remembered the horrible feeling in his gut that had followed:

_"Settle down, settle—SETTLE DOWN! In a few weeks you'll all be taking the Genin Exam and only some of you will pass. This is known by all. But, due to the war raging at our borders, new measures have had to be drawn to ensure that we have the best of the best defending our homeland. _

_ This year, the Genin Exam will consist of four portions. The first test will be one-on-one taijutsu spars. Those who lose will be eliminated from the Exam and be forced to try again next year. That means that at the most, only half of you will pass. Of those twenty-seven, nine will be made Genin. Those nine will be the nine highest scorers of the average of the last three tests. The remaining eighteen will be made Hannin, a new post created with the purpose of increasing our troop size. Those of you who are made Hannin will be put into squads ranging in size from ten to twenty under the command of one of our Chuunin. You will have the chance to become Genin during the war. For those of you that do become Genin, you will be grouped into three-man squads with a Jounin sensei—"_

Naruto had tuned out the rest of Iruka's lecture…the anxiety that had twisted his stomach was too overwhelming. At this moment, however, Naruto felt anything but apprehension. He was sure he could wow Iruka with his Kage Bunshin. That was the only jutsu that was going to be on the test, right?

"Alright students," Iruka said, his voice directed towards the twenty-seven youth before him, "your last test for the Genin Exam is a test of you mastery over the ninjutsu taught to you during the school year. Scores will be also be affected by the creativity used in your performance of these ninjutsu."

_Excellent. Can't get much more creative with the Bunshin than by using a Jounin-level version of it. But he's acting as if there's more than one jutsu to be tested. Ah, I was afraid of that. What'll it be? Henge, Kawarimi…?_

"You'll be performing three jutsu: the Bunshin, Henge, and Kage Shuriken no Jutsu."

Naruto kept his face composed. He could reveal nothing, despite the surprising choice in jutsu. If he lost even a fraction of the confidence and focus the scroll had given, he had no doubt he would mess up the jutsu.

Iruka continued on, saying "To pass, you must perform all three jutsu correctly. Points will be based on the speed of the jutsu's completion, the quality of the jutsu, and any personal modification to the jutsu. Again, the top nine in the class will be made Genin. We'll begin with Aburame Shino."

And so, the final test of the Genin Exam began. Iruka-sensei motioned for the concealed boy to come to him and walked out of the room with some random teal-haired Chuunin. Shino followed silently behind.

Naruto tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his turn. When it came to Sakura, however, he stopped and gave her a beaming smile. This was a slight break from his usual mischievous behavior and the girl was obviously surprised. She narrowed her eyes warily in search of a prank but, finding none, returned Naruto's gesture with a small, polite nod.

Naruto regretted fooling Sakura, but he couldn't take any chances. As soon as he became a Genin (bravado bolstered his confidence greatly), he would stop the pranks and focus on becoming stronger for her.

_Just gotta keep the villagers off my case for a little longer. _

Despite Naruto's careful adherence to this plan and his dedication to protecting Sakura, however, he found himself slipping into irrational and dangerous spouts of anger whenever he was around a certain Uchiha Sasuke. The prodigy of the Uchiha Clan was not only the top student at the Academy, but also the object of affection for nearly every girl in the school. True, the girls did not think of Sasuke in a romantic sense. That would be disgusting. They simply admired and respected him for his skill and pedigree. Though he was tempted to call the girls (and boys who hung around him to increase their own standing) superficial, he had to admit that the raven-haired boy probably deserved the attention he got. Even worse, he didn't let it go to his head. Sasuke, while being polite and courteous towards those who desired his approval, expressed no desire or want for this attention…attention that Naruto had craved so desperately for his entire life.

'He gets everything for just being alive and he doesn't even _want_ it! And all the while, I am forced to stoop myself to unimaginable indignity to just get acknowledged! Why? The irony, the cruelty of such a situation is unbearable! I hate him, I _hate _him—'

_Calm yourself Naruto. Total concentration is necessary. Can't let Sasuke-teme distract me…not that he even cares._

Naruto was interrupted from his musings when Iruka-sensei walked into the room and called out, "Uchiha Sasuke."

'Speak of the devil,' Naruto thought angrily as his "enemy" walked determinedly behind Iruka towards the testing area.

_Concentrate! The teme doesn't matter right now. What matters is passing this test…and returning the scroll you stole from the Hokage. Dammit, if he finds out I'll be gutted in an instant—no, worry about that later. You did manage to sneak in to the office by yourself. Ojisan seems like the kind of guy who would appreciate that. Which makes me wonder…how _did _I steal that scroll? It held forbidden jutsu and it was just laying against the wall like an old book. Ha, he probably let me steal it._

This brightened Naruto's mood considerably. If the Hokage had enough faith in him to allow him to steal one of Konoha's most valuable scrolls for a Genin Exam, then maybe he was worth something.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto's flared in the fading sunlight as his head jerked up in recognition. Seeing Iruka's hopeful face, Naruto grinned obnoxiously and strutted after his now exasperated-looking teacher. He _wouldn't _let the Hokage down. He wouldn't let Sasuke beat him. Most importantly, he wouldn't let Sakura fight alone.

_Maybe there's hope for me after all._

_

* * *

_

_2 years later_

Lightning cascaded across the muddy earth, illuminating the rain that poured down from the heavens. Three figures huddled underneath a hill of muddy and torn dirt, adrenaline fueling their bodies and discipline harnessing their raw energy.

"Naruto…you're an idiot."

Sasuke Uchiha narrowed crimson eyes with two dark tomoe's in the irises at his blond-haired, orange jumpsuit-clothed teammate. For the normally precocious and polite young boy, such a statement was as good as a slap to the face. Naruto could even see the beginnings of a glare in his pale and elegant face. He wouldn't let the spoiled brat get away with it however. His plan had been flawless. If Sasuke hadn't pulled Sakura back from that position at the last minute, they'd be surrounding the enemy, not the other way around.

"_Shut it Sasuke!_ It would have worked—"

Before Naruto could complete his planned diatribe, though, a fist smacked his face into the ground. The boy needed no other knowledge than the pulsing pain his head to realize who had committed the deed, "What the hell Sakura?"

He glared up angrily into the emerald orbs gazing sadly down at him. Sakura was quick with a response, "Sorry Naruto, but Sasuke was right. I could have been ambushed and then you and Sasuke would have been left wide open for a surprise attack. It was too risky. Besides we _don't _have time for any more of your angry ranting. Now let's find a way back to Kakashi-sensei before those Kumo shinobi take advantage of their superior positioning or their Iwa reinforcements arrive."

Naruto averted his eyes shamefully, a light blush beginning to color his cheeks. Sakura's words stung worse than the blow to his head, no matter how many times he was used to it; but he knew deep down that she was right. Why would he make such an obvious blunder?

_Because I wanted to show up Sasuke. Plain and simple._

During the two years since Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had graduated as one of the nine Genin and become Team 7 with Kakashi as their sensei, they had been on many B-rank missions and several A-rank missions (with Kakashi aiding them, of course), all the while learning new techniques and honing their current skills to better serve Konoha. For Naruto, though, his progress had been severely hampered by his unrequited rage towards Sasuke.

_It's like a cheap movie: everything I do, he does better…and he doesn't even seem to care. Hell, he doesn't even respond when I yell at him. I don't want to end up like that baka Gai Maito, always going on about being Kakashi-sensei's eternal rival and always being put down in the most humiliating manner possible: absolute rejection. Does Sasuke even care about me as I teammate, or do I just get in the way?_

Naruto frowned beneath his headband as he sent several Kage Bunshin Henged as Sakura, Sasuke, and himself towards the forest. Was he just a supporting character in the play that was Sasuke's life? He wanted more. He wanted to be important and respected…but every time he prepared to enact one of his grand, heat of the moment strategies, this very same ambition caused him to be impulsive and make mistakes.

"Naruto, come on!"

He turned to see Sakura inside a hole, mud smeared across her face. A small, childish giggle escaped his throat at the sight of her. Her beautiful red ninja dress was torn and dirty from digging and her hands were bleeding and brown. Yet, despite all of these things, her face glowed with purpose and enthusiasm.

"What are you laughing about baka," she whispered furiously, her eyes narrowed in a glare.

Still sniggering, Naruto stealthily moved towards her, where he rested back in his heels and examined her with his piercing blue eyes. After a moment's silence he said, no trace of humor in his voice, "I'm laughing because you look terrible," he continued on, ignoring the murderous look that entered her eyes, "…and because you're going to be one of the best shinobi Konoha'll ever have."

'Wait, what did I just say? Oh hell she's gonna kill—'

"T-thank you…Naruto."

He stared at her in shock, only to find her face holding an unusual emotion within it: pure and unfettered gratitude.

Naruto, feeling awkward and uncomfortable in such an unfamiliar situation, blushed terribly and quickly climbed into the hole, all the while mumbling, "It's nothin' at all…no problem…better ge' goin'…"

Before he could crawl two feet, he felt Sakura gently pull him to face her and give him a soft kiss on his headband resting across his forehead. Naruto was frozen, his blood colder than the frigid earth eating away at his loose clothing. Staring into Sakura's face, he saw complete and joyful friendship, something he had never experienced before in his entire life. There in the rain, in the middle of war with people who probably didn't deserve to die in the first place, in the freezing mud miles away from home, Naruto felt love blossom within his small heart. It was not the love of romance or passion, but of friendship and camaraderie. This girl, for no other reason than that he had complimented her, had shown him gratitude. _Him_.

Naruto was too stunned to do anything other than gape. Sakura noticed, for a in an instant her face assumed an expression of humorous annoyance and she reprimanded, a giggle of her own within her throat, "Your supposed to say 'you're welcome' silly."

Scratching his hand behind his head sheepishly, he responded, "Sorry…and you're welcome."

"Much better. We might make a gentleman out of you after all."

"Aw, Sakura-chan! You're so cruel!"

Sasuke's voice suddenly rang out from deep within the tunnel, "I would appreciate some help digging…unless of course you two would _like _that giant Kumo nin with the halberd to slice you in half."

While Sakura blushed in embarrassment, Naruto merely laughed and retorted, "Is that humor from the great Sasuke-kun? Oh, Kakashi-sensei's gonna _love _this!"

Even from this great distance, Naruto could feel Sasuke's glare burning into him, "You're _dead_ if you do, Naruto-_baka_."

"Ah settle down Sasuke-hime. I know how precious your little reputation is. I promise I won't tell anyone."

Naruto placed his right hand over his heart, making a mock salute with the other.

"Cut it out you two. We've got a lot of digging to do."

The boys reluctantly silenced their feud at Sakura's admonishment and set out to make it back to their main camp as quickly as possible. All the while, though, Naruto couldn't repress the pleasant warmth within his chest at the thought of Sakura's happy face.

* * *

Four hours. Four miserable hours they had been digging through the freezing mud of Kumo and they were still a couple miles away from their main camp.

Sakura spit mud out of her mouth, her pixyish face screwed up in disgust. Every time they tried to go above ground, Sasuke's Sharingan would pick up enemy ninja nearby. Back into the tunnel they would go and back into the muddy mess that Sakura hated with an unbelievable passion. She was so incensed at the labor that when Naruto stopped to see how she was faring, she had thrown a fist full of mud into his face for slowing down their progress. Memories of Naruto's earlier praise unexpectedly flooded into her mind. Sincerity and kindness had been the only feelings within his eyes. When he had said that she'd be one of Konoha's best shinobi, she had been stunned. In her two years as a shinobi, the only compliments she had ever received were Kakashi-sensei's half-hearted encouragements.

_I can't be "Konoha's best shinobi". I'm not even sure I can make it to Chuunin. My role is to support the more powerful shinobi…like Sasuke, for instance. I'm too small to be any good at taijutsu and I don't have enough chakra to perform powerful ninjutsu. Kakashi-sensei did say my chakra control was really high after I climbed up those trees. Maybe I can be a genjutsu specialist like that red-eyed kunoichi; but even then, I'd still only be support. Stupid Naruto, he can't even understand what some people our meant…to…do…_

She faltered upon seeing Naruto's bright eyes once again glance back at her to ascertain her well-being. Normally she wasn't so fatalistic, but there were some things that she just knew she wouldn't be able to achieve. Why couldn't the gaki understand that? But when she saw Naruto's optimistic face, child-like enthusiasm and drive beaming from every orifice, a small part of her took his words, spoken with a tenderness she had not thought possible of the loud boy, and held them close to her heart, embedding them forever within her as a shield against the doubt and dismissal of her superiors.

Sakura pushed ahead with renewed vigor. They had a lot of ground to cover and she couldn't waste time dawdling. Besides, when would she ever get the chance to play in the mud again?

* * *

"Why does Konoha have to be so far away," a voice whined, carrying itself annoyingly far.

For what felt like the hundredth time, Naruto heard his sensei, Hatake Kakashi reply in the most bored manner possible, "Because the gods want to annoy you…and everyone within a two-mile vicinity."

"What was that Kakashi-sensei?"

"Nothing, nothing," the Jounin replied, waving his right hand in the air dismissively, "Just answering your question."

"What was your answer, exactly?"

Naruto scowled as the silver-haired legend turned his head to face him, eye smiling politely, "My answer was an explanation on how the borders of the Five Shinobi Countries were formed. You want me to start again?"

"No, no that won't be necessary, hehe, just fine with the silence."

"Suit yourself."

With that, Kakashi turned back towards his mysterious orange book, sandals pattering softly against the dirt pathway leading back to Konoha. Sighing exasperatedly, Naruto glanced at his two other teammates. Sakura's nose was buried in a book thicker than her forearm and she seemed to be fascinated. Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed content to stare coolly into space, indifferent to his surroundings.

Naruto sighed again, enhancing its volume dramatically. When this received no response, he finally submitted and abandoned all attempts at entertainment. Eventually, his thoughts wandered to how Team 7 had come to start travelling back to Konoha. The war was still raging as hard as ever and Naruto had gotten the impression that every available shinobi was needed at the front lines.

It had been four months since that grueling dig back to their main camp, and Team 7 had already redeemed themselves several times over. Naruto in particular had shown the most improvement, though he was still the weakest member of the team in raw skill. This development was actually due, in part, to a very unexpected discussion he had had with Sasuke after they had finally made it back to their camp. It forever changed Naruto's opinion of Sasuke and himself:

_Naruto trudged along one of the many paths that intersected and crawled across the massive array of barracks and tents of Konoha's Shutarubakuei. It was very similar to its sister base, the Uxesutanbakuei, near Iwa. He recalled hearing from Iruka how these legendary bases had been established by the Nidaime Hokage as a frontline against any attacks. While they wouldn't have stood up to the advance of the Kyuubi no Yokai had they been in its path, it could withstand the assault of a large army. They were one of the many reasons Iwa and Kumo were reluctant to go to war. Assault of the Shutarubakuei was a daunting task, both militarily and financially._

_ One of the main reasons for this was that the base was colossal, spanning nearly two miles along the Kumo border. Walls extending nearly a hundred feet in the air gave the Shutarubakuei the appearance of a fortress rather than an obscured ninja camp. _

_ Naruto rounded a corner of a Chuunin barracks. He was tired, filthy, and grumpy as hell. All he wanted was to drown himself in a hot shower, with soap and frothy bubbles sand—_

_ "Naruto, could I speak with you for a moment?"_

_ He swiveled his head around in confusion, until his eyes rested upon the onyx orbs of Sasuke. _

_ Groaning, he replied, "Don't yell at me about how terrible my plan was again, teme…I'm exhausted, I need a shower, and, to tell the truth, I have no energy to so if you don't mind—why are you staring at me like that? Wait a minute, that's why you don't pay attention to those girls! You're a f—dammit what he'd call it—a fag!"_

_ Naruto remembered hearing a drunk yell the word at another man and judging from the furious look on the man's face, he figured it was a pretty bad insult, though he had no idea why._

_ Sasuke quirked and eyebrow in confusion, "Wha—I mean, I did come here to talk to you about your strategies…all of your strategies."_

_ Snarling, Naruto replied, "I thought I just told yo—"_

_ "I think they have the potential to be of great aid to us in battle," Sasuke cut in effortlessly, his voice as cold and graceful as the best of the Uchiha._

_ Naruto was stunned, but quickly regained his footing, "What do you mean?"_

_ Smirking slightly, Sasuke replied, "The plans you come up with are done in reaction to the events you take in within a second's glance and they are strategically sound. Their only flaw is that the speed with which they are made. I have seen my father and, most especially, my brother strategize enough to recognize the importance of understanding _every _possible solution. I've had to combat many of Itachi-oniisan's strategies and all of them have one common factor: they never disadvantage my brother unless they are meant to. You, on the other hand, rush through your strategies and leave out small, yet vitally important details. The mission today is case in point: You were so concentrated on surrounding the enemy in front of us that you failed to anticipate any additional enemy forces."_

_ "What are you trying to say," Naruto asked indignantly._

_ For the first time in the two years Naruto had worked with the reclusive Uchiha, he saw determination burn brightly within his eyes, "I'm trying to say that I want you to get better, baka, so you can help me become stronger as well. I heard you go on about wanting to be Hokage or some such nonsense—"_

_ "IT'S NOT NONSENSE BECAUSE I _WILL _BE HOKAGE YOU TEME!"_

_ Ignoring the outburst with the contempt of a lord, Sasuke coolly replied, "Not if you keep up like you are. You're the weakest member on our team and that's dangerous." He dismissed Naruto's glare and continued, "As a team, we depend upon each other for support. If one of us slips up, we could all die."_

_ "I know that," he snapped back, his pride stung at how close Sasuke had gotten to him, "and if I were in charge of Team 7, I'd complete our missions just as quickly as you if not faster."_

_ "Prove it."_

_ That caught Naruto by surprise. Sasuke usually dismissed his boasting as if it never existed, but now he was actually acknowledging it? Naruto could not contain his shock, "Heh?"_

_ "If you think you're a better shinobi than me, prove it. Defeat me in battle and I'll acknowledge your superiority…but I doubt a dobe like you could give me a good match."_

_ "_What _was that teme?"_

_ His smirk widening, the raven-haired boy reiterated, "I said, a dobe like you'll never give me a good match. Face it," his smirk widened into a sneer, "you'll never even come close to me. Hell, I'd be surprised if you ever made Chuunin, let alone Hok—"_

_ Sasuke quickly dodged a volley of shuriken and leapt around the corner of the barracks. _

_ "Alright Sasuke, you're DEAD!"_

_ And so, Naruto engaged Sasuke in one of the most vicious one-on-one battles he had ever fought…and also one of the quickest. While his Kage Bunshin rushing as a horde was slightly intimidating, Sasuke destroyed most of them with a simple Katon jutsu and eliminated the rest with his Sharingan-enhanced taijutsu. The few ninjutsu that Naruto had his arsenal consisted of only three other offensive jutsu and he had shaky control at best. The result was Naruto taking a humiliating beating at the hands of his rival; but not before ambushing him in the alley way with Kage Bunshin atop the roofs of the two adjacent barracks. Sasuke's grimace as a clone cut his leg before being dispelled was almost worth the defeat. _

_ As he lay against the side of one of the barracks with a bloody nose and bruised face, Sasuke uttered, "Like I said, you'll never be Hokage unless you can beat me…and you'll _never_ beat me."_

_ Fury raged like a burning fire within his heart as he watched Sasuke walk away, back straight with confidence and pride. _

_ From that day on, Naruto dedicated himself to beating Sasuke and it showed. He added several jutsu to repertoire and increased the speed of hand seals to the point that he could make the Soyokaze sever a branch as thick as half his body width at an adequate speed. Hours of sparring with Sasuke, and helpful hints from Kakashi-sensei, drastically improved his taijutsu form to the point that Sasuke had to use his Sharingan to beat him. Kakashi also provided him with focusing exercises to help him in creating strategies during battle. Most importantly to Naruto, however, was the bond he had developed with Sakura and Sasuke and the significance they gave his life._

_ In the two years Naruto had been a part of Team 7, he had always been the weakest member. The only advantage he had had over Sakura was his gender and its advantage in strength when fighting against her in a taijutsu spar. Even with this, his form had been so sloppy that he had to give it everything he had to beat her. Had she been allowed to use jutsu, she could have trapped him within an illusion and drowned him with one of her Suton jutsu in a heartbeat. It was worse with Sasuke…far worse. The Uchiha had been able to defeat Naruto easily _before_ he obtained his Sharingan. With it, Naruto had stood no chance at all. While his strategies had hindered Sasuke and caused him on occasion to leave openings in his defense, Naruto had lacked the attack power to take advantage of them. Any Kage Bunshin Naruto had sent at him were easily destroyed by a simple Katon and Sasuke handled him too easily in taijutsu to attack him head on, a fact Naruto learned the hard way many times. This weakness had caused Naruto to be more of a liability during missions than a help. He had even overhead Kakashi-sensei talking with some smoking Jounin about transferring him. Naruto still couldn't shake his sensei's words out of his head, "Asuma…I think I might have to move Naruto to Hannin. I have a feeling it would break him, but he's endangering Sakura and Sasuke. If any of the three of them died…" _

_ Apparently, Kakashi didn't have the desire to finish the thought, and Naruto was glad he hadn't. Deep down, Naruto wouldn't have blamed Kakashi if he had demoted him. The only reason he had made it Genin was because of his Kage Bunshin clones…and that he faced off against a pretty weak opponent in the taijutsu test. He also did terribly in genjutsu and was only able to negate this with an above average assassination score, achieved using his knowledge of silently avoiding furious prank victims. That particular experience seemed to have a variety of uses. _

_ But despite the possibility of enduring such a terrible humiliation as being demoted from a Genin, Naruto's performance had remained lackluster and he had no idea why…until he fought Sasuke in that random, insignificant alleyway. The cause for Naruto's incompetence was simple: he had never had a reason strong enough to drive him to succeed and grow. While protecting Sakura was powerfully motivating, it was not enough to begin chipping away at the lifetime of feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness that overwhelmed Naruto whenever he attempted anything. Sasuke's challenge to him, however, had struck a nerve deep within him; yet, it was not only the anger that he felt at being underestimated that drove him, but the joy at being acknowledged. Sasuke needed him to become stronger. Without him, without his existence, Sasuke would not be able to make Itachi and his father proud. That, coupled with his desire to protect Sakura, gave him a new meaning and purpose. _

"I think we can take a break now," Kakashi announced, cutting in on Naruto's reminiscence of his progress.

The four ninja ambled off of the path and next to a massive boulder that cast a refreshing shadow large enough to cover the three Genin. Kakashi politely allowed them to rest in the shade. The three teammates gratefully fell against the rock as Kakashi easily sat down atop a log and resumed reading his book.

Two questions that had bugged Naruto ever since they left the Shutarubakuei suddenly burst out of him after a mere moment's silence, "Kakashi-sensei, why are we walking back to Konoha…and why are we _walking _in the first place?"

Kakashi's single exposed eye lazily turned its attention to Naruto, "To answer your," he paused to mockingly count, "second question, I thought you guys would want to relax a little bit. As for your first, we're going back to Konoha for a meeting with the Hokage. Your other classmates are going back to. Think of it as a temporary vacation from the horrors and bloodshed of war." His eye smiled cheerfully at this last statement and then hastily returned to the book in his hand.

Naruto, however, was busy digesting Kakashi's words, _Meeting with the Hokage? Perhaps a psychological examination? Yeah, that's it. The Hokage wants to make sure we haven't gone insane from killing soldiers. Not like we've done any of that, though. I don't think any Genin's killed anybody. Hell, Sasuke was about to slit that Chuunin's throat last month before Kakashi-sensei sliced off his head. _

This intrigued Naruto greatly and he quietly shared his thoughts with Sakura and Sasuke.

Sakura rubbed thoughtfully her chin before responding, "You have a point Naruto, but there's no law forbidding Genin from killing anybody. That would really hinder us in the field."

"I agree," Sasuke said, "but Naruto's right. Sakura and I have had many chances to end an enemy's life before and, in these last few months, you have as well Naruto."

Naruto was surprised to see Sasuke glance at him in approval, but quickly focused on what the raven-haired boy said next, "But at all of these moments, Kakashi-sensei has stepped in. If there is some secret law forbidding Genin from killing, then we need to confront the Hokage and convince him otherwise. Shinobi weapons of the village, its defenders in times of need and its avengers when embroiled in war. We cannot perform our duties if we are forbidden to engage in our basic nature."

Smirking cynically, Naruto commented, "Spoken from the shinobi handbook itself. I think your starting to rub off on him Sakura-chan."

While Sakura found Naruto's comment slightly humorous, if offensive, Sasuke scowled severely, "But it's the truth Naruto. That is what we are meant to do. We kill so others don't have to."

Naruto stared at Sasuke with as much gravity and seriousness he could muster before replying, "Say you are right and our main purpose is to kill. If that's true, are you ready to end a life?"

For the first time since Naruto had meant the raven-haired Uchiha, Sasuke was visibly stunned. Before he could reply, Sakura cut in, "Naruto, I don't think any of us are ready to kill. But…well, Sasuke's point is that it doesn't matter. We _have _to kill and risk our lives. That is our sacrifice so others can live happily."

Indignation burned within Naruto and he voiced it angrily, "Does that mean we can't have a happy life? We just become killers? I don't want that—"

"And that won't happen."

All three of them swerved their heads towards Kakashi, their eyes widened in astonishment. Their sensei stared at them lazily, but his eye held knowledge that Naruto genuinely feared. Finally, Kakashi spoke up, "Sasuke is correct when he says our main purpose, as shinobi, is to end life for the good of the village. We sacrifice our humanity so that the humanity of others is preserved…but that doesn't mean we have to enjoy it or become killing automatons devoid of emotion. When you have to kill, you kill. Nothing more, nothing less."

Kakashi's eye suddenly turned downwards as if lost in a painful memory. When he spoke again, his voice was eerily grave, "When you first take a life, the experience is unforgettable. You're haunted by nightmares and phantasms of that person, no matter how much you tell yourself they were 'evil' or 'threats to the village'. But, after doing it for a while, you learn how to shut off your mind to the sadness…zone out, if you will, while you're killing the enemy. The cost is that you become brutalized to the point that you 'zone out' at _any _instance of killing. But there's a reason Konoha's the envy of the ninja world. Our value on teamwork and friendship is meant to create a bond between the village and a shinobi. Other villages that focus on strength over cooperation are weaker and smaller because their more powerful shinobi have no ties, no friends, to bind them to the village. The result is that many of them go missing-nin. No matter how alone you feel, no matter how terrible you feel after killing, remember that your village, your Hokage, your sensei, and, most importantly, your teammates will always be there for you."

For a long time the clearing was shrouded in silence, until Sakura, her voice unusually timid and nervous, asked, "Sensei, why aren't letting us…kill and g-get it over with? Wouldn't it…wouldn't it be better to get used to it now?"

Kakashi's eye seemed to droop even more, weighed down by some unknown sadness. In an instant, he stood up, shouldered his pack, and set off down the road. The three Genin stared after him, bewildered by his sudden departure, before hastily grabbing their own packs and heading on after them. The trip was devoid of any sound the rest of the way.

* * *

Arms, covered in orange fabric, stretched luxuriously behind an equally-clothed back. Groaning with pleasure, Naruto returned his arms to their normal position, ignoring the glare of a passing villager as he did so. He had been back in Konoha for moments and already the populace was expressing their seemingly undying hatred for him. It did not go unnoticed by either Sakura or Sasuke. As they were heading to the Hokage Tower, they could easily perceive the glares being directed at their group. Since no villager in their right mind would openly display any feelings of animosity towards Kakashi or Sasuke, and considering that Sakura's family was well-respected among Konoha's non-shinobi families, only one member of their group was left who could have warranted such hostility.

"Naruto, why are those people glaring at you," Sakura whispered in his ear, her voice rife with confusion and…protectiveness? For reasons Naruto understood very well, that pleased him greatly. It didn't help in answering her question however, for in truth, he had no idea why he was so thoroughly despised in Konoha.

The only response he could think of was, "Probably peeved about my pranks."

"Huh," was all he got as a reply, though Naruto could tell she was unconvinced.

As they walked through the streets of Konoha, Naruto could feel the strain of war everywhere. Villagers, presumably the parents of children in the war, trudged sadly towards some unknown destination, their backs slightly hunched over as if under some terrible weight. The once busy and golden city that had teemed with life and happiness, now seemed gray and cold to Naruto. Whereas before, hundreds of villagers and vendors lined the curb, the roads were now home to hordes of ninja and couriers, snaking their way through the along the paths of Konoha like a massive millipede in endless motion.

_The_ Engine of War, Naruto thought ruefully, referencing a book he had seen Kakashi reading several weeks earlier. Though Naruto felt little love for the place (indeed, he thoroughly enjoyed living with their unprejudiced and uncaring comrades in the Shutarubakuei), a twang of sadness pierced his heart at the thought of how such a heavy air of sorrow had fallen on the once joyous citizens of Konoha. Of course, he had never been a part of that joy, a fact which prevented him from feeling anything further for his fellow Konoha villagers. Sakura and Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed greatly disturbed by the changes brought on by the war and wore strained expressions of grief and worry.

They reached the Tower within minutes and quickly entered the air-conditioned building to escape the rising heat of the humid summer air, a stark contrast to the brisk and chilling climates near the Kumo and Iwa border. Needless to say, Naruto was grateful for the artificial breeze that cooled the sweat saturating his skin…until the scathing eyes of Annyui Juujun met his own crystal blue orbs.

"Hell…" he muttered under his breath. This drew a curious glance from Sakura, which he pointedly ignored.

Annyui had aged every bit of the two years that had passed since Naruto had last seen her. Her face, formerly smooth, was now slightly drawn with weariness and small dark circles made her exhaustion apparent to the world. Indeed, the war had taken its toll on everyone, especially the administrative workers of the Hokage. Yet, despite her fatigue, the hateful secretary, a small scar, vainly covered with strands of hair, stretching two inches down from her hair line as a reminder of their encounter, looked ready to scream many a foul obscenity at Naruto; but Kakashi, as if aware of the past struggles between the two, hurriedly stepped up to the desk and, eye smiling cheerfully, said, "Team 7 reporting for a scheduled meeting with the Hokage."

Annyui's eyes widened for a moment at the abruptness of Kakashi's appearance, but she quickly responded, "O-of course Kakashi-san. You're listed for," she nervously rifled through several stacks of paper, "oh! You're a half hour late. Hurry on in…now!"

The three Genin were horrified to learn they were late for a meeting with one of the most powerful figures in all the Five Nations, but Kakashi seemed perfectly fine. He casually sauntered up the steps, must to the consternation of his students. By the time they reached the office, Naruto was positive they had missed their appointment.

However, when they entered the room, Naruto was struck dumb in awe. The dark, poorly lit shadows that Naruto had witnessed during his escapade into the office two years ago were now bathed in the golden light of the sun shining over the Hokage Mountain. Golden scrolls, emerald and ruby statues, and several diamond swords were but a few of the incredible treasures displayed within the office. All reflected the sunlight with a radiance that truly represented the might and majesty that was Konoha. Yet above them all, the first thing Naruto noticed was the Forbidden Scroll of Seals resting as casually against the back wall as it had the day he had first laid eyes upon it. Naruto still couldn't forget the day the Hokage went to his house purposefully to recollect the scroll. To his amazement, all he had received was a stern reprimand and an oddly proud grin from Ojisan.

"So Kakashi," the Hokage's aged voice rang out with the clarity and dignity of one used to being listened to, "how's Team 7 been doing?"

Kakashi, from what Naruto could see under the Jounin's mask, looked ready to say something, but glanced at them all instead. He rapidly scanned their faces and, apparently satisfied, answered, "Hokage-sama, my team has successfully completed around ninety percent of their missions. In some cases, they've gone beyond the parameters of the mission to the benefit of our armies. Individually, they have improved dramatically, particularly Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto beamed at this and eagerly waited for the Hokage's positive compliments.

Instead, the Hokage replied, "Do you have documentation of this?"

"Of course Hokage-sama." Kakashi casually withdrew a large folder and placed it on the dark ebony wood of the Hokage's desk.

The Hokage gently took the folder and began rifling through its contents, making indistinguishable grunts as he did so. Finally, he set the folder aside and addressed Kakashi, "You say Uzumaki has improved…that's quite understandable considering how poorly he performed for over a year and a half under your command." Naruto's eyes widened as a deep, humiliated blush burned his face. He averted his eyes away from Ojisan—no, the Hokage's face.

Kakashi seemed to stiffen slightly as he responded, "You're right Hokage-sama. Naruto started off slow…so slow that I considered demoting him to Hannin in order to avoid the death of my Team. However, the growth he's shown in the past four months can only be described as meteoric." Naruto swerved his head up hopefully. "Naruto played a vital role in the discovery of the Rinkan camp six weeks ago and was able to keep an Iwa squad of Genin from alerting the Kawazoi reinforcements until our own forces had already surrounded and eliminated them. It is for this reason that I recommend my _entire_ team for promotion to Teii Chuunin."

Naruto could barely keep his joy contained within himself, _A promotion? I…I did it! Ha ha, take that Konoha! Yeah, Teii—wait, what's a Teii Chuunin?_

Glancing over at his other teammates, he found similar expressions of excitement and confusion written upon their faces. This was replaced with rapt attention when the Hokage responded, "Hmm, you think their ready for that Kakashi?"

The Jounin gave a short nod in the affirmative, "Yes, Hokage-sama."

A thin smile, merely another wrinkle on the old leader's face, spread across the Hokage's visage, "Yet you desire them to remain in a squad. Do you not think they will be able to handle the responsibilities of a full-fledged Chuunin? The lowest rank mission they've completed was one C-rank. The rest were all B- and A-rank missions, the vast majority of which, as you yourself said, they've completed. Though you were there to aid them, they were still able to make a significant contribution during all these missions. During the Takedakeshii incident, you even allowed them to take the lead on the mission. By all rights they should be made Chuunin, if not Jou—"

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi cut in unexpectedly and, in Naruto's estimation (considering he had just been recommended by the Hokage to be a Chuunin), rather rudely, "may I speak frankly?"

Upon seeing the Hokage nod, Kakashi said, "You know as well as I that they are not even close to Jounin level. I was twelve when I was made Jounin and…we know what happened. They are four years younger than I was and all the less experienced for it. In terms of power, I agree with you in that I believe they might be able take on one of the enemy's Chuunin and claim victory…but you know what else comes with that rank." Naruto was shocked to see Kakashi so emotional and passionate. He was acting the way he had back in the clearing.

_What's with him? And what does being a Chuunin bring upon someone that's so horrible?_

The Hokage nodded once more, a sigh sadly escaping from his old mouth, "I know all too well Kakashi. So be it. In seven days," he turned his head towards the Genin behind Kakashi. The Jounin, sensing his students' rapidly rising excitement, politely stepped out of the way as the Hokage continued, "You three will be declared official Teii Chuunin. The rank of Teii Chuunin is a secondary wartime rank created for very young, but talented Genin such as yourselves. Should the war end quickly, before you had the opportunity to prove yourselves, your rank will revert to Genin. However, should you prove to be a valuable member of our shinobi force, you will be granted the rank of Chuunin and maintain that rank upon the war's ending."

Any curiosity Naruto felt about Kakashi's attitude was a washed away in a torrent of joy and exhilaration. Forgetting where he was, Naruto leapt high into the air while letting out cries of joy…only to be smacked down by Sakura's cruel fist, "BAKA! WE'RE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE _HOKAGE!_"

Despite Sakura's rebuttal of his enthusiasm, Naruto could tell from under the cracked splinters of the floor that Sakura was elated, if the light flush of happiness on her face was anything to go by.

She extended a hand to him and helped him up, all the while checking for any signs of hurt upon his body. It was a usual custom: Naruto would get over-excited about something, Sakura would calm him down (often physically), and then she would help him up and make sure he was okay. In some ways, Naruto realized, Sakura was much like a mother hen, watching out for him and Sasuke. Though, Naruto was positive the raven-haired boy would _never _agree to such an estimation, despite being tended to by Sakura's graceful hands countless times after a battle.

At this thought, Naruto looked over to Sasuke and was surprised to see frustration on his face mixed in with the joy of promotion. Before he could follow this, however, the Hokage said, "Team 7, you are dismissed. Go and enjoy yourself for a little while. Kakashi…"

Kakashi nodded, "Right. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura," he looked at each of them in turn, "The Hokage's right. You should get some rest. We'll have a meeting in a week, get your forms signed and head back to the Shutarubakuei. Sound good?"

"Hai, sensei," they responded in unison before swiftly exiting the room.

Outside the Hokage Tower, Naruto released the energy that had been refilling inside of him after his first outburst into one great shout, "YEAHHHHHHH! UZUMAKI NARUTO IS ON HIS WAY!"

Sasuke shook his head in disapproval, frustration still apparent on his face, "Don't get so excited dobe. Becoming a Teii Chuunin is nothing. You're still as long away from being Hokage as before."

Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but was beat to the chase by a very annoyed Sakura, "What's wrong with you Sasuke? We just got promoted and your acting like we did something wrong! Grrr, you're such a killjoy sometimes!"

If Sasuke was surprised at Sakura's outburst he didn't show it. His voice, however, gave off a cold fury, "At my age, Itachi had already mastered the Sharingan…now he's an Anbu Captain and I can't even call myself a Chuunin!" Sakura winced at Sasuke's venomous tone, but Naruto felt a curious calm descend upon him.

Sasuke's rage, though unfamiliar on the normally calm boy's face, was something well known to Naruto. Sasuke wanted approval…acknowledgement…power…everything Naruto himself wanted and it was all in those onyx orbs that glared so intently at some unknown image. Yet within that torrent of ambition, Naruto saw something else that drove Sasuke. Love for his brother and family tempered his desire and, in Naruto's opinion, made it stronger.

"Sasuke," Naruto said quietly, continuing when his teammate looked up at him curiously, "your brother's a hard act to follow, you know? Maybe you just aren't at his level…"

Horror and fury contorted Sasuke's face into something demonic, but Naruto remained still and continued, "Or maybe, he's so good because he's pushing himself for _you_."

The terrible monstrosity that had been Sasuke's face disappeared in an instant, "…What?"

"Itachi might be strong because he's that good, but I think he's so powerful because he has individuals to, I don't know, get stronger for. It's like he's trying to set an example for you, you know, like he's saying, 'Here Sasuke, watch what I do and make it better.' He _wants _you to surpass him. It doesn't matter how long it takes to master your eye-thingy or what rank you are at whatever age…so long as you take his lessons and become strong with them, he'll be proud of you."

For a long time, nobody spoke. Both Sasuke and Sakura stared at Naruto as if he had grown wings. Sasuke in particular was gazing upon him with a look of absolute bewilderment. Finally, Naruto sheepishly asked, his hands waving frantically in front of him, "Or maybe I was wrong, who knows? Hehe…yeah. Could you just um…eh…stop staring at me?"

A giggle escaped from Sakura's mouth…and then another…and another, until she was nearly doubled over with laughter. Even Sasuke started to laugh, his once brooding features lightened considerably by his merriment. The joy of his teammates rolled off of them in waves, infecting Naruto. He couldn't help but join in, reveling in the echoes their happiness made against the once grim, but now suddenly beautiful structures of Konoha.

By the time they were done, they all lay panting next to each other on the ground, snickers occasionally sending them into fits of elation. Naruto had no idea why they had done that. He hadn't said or done anything particularly funny, nor had he wanted to elicit this reaction from them in the first place. But as he lay on the ground, the soft grains of soil tickling the nerves in his skin, he realized he didn't care. For two years, they had been soldiers of their village, fighting and risking their lives to protect those that they loved. Most children their age would be enjoying the company of their families and friends. For Team 7, they barely had time to snicker before an enemy prepared to end their lives. This laugh, this one raucous eruption of emotion, was a release for all of their worries and fears, nightmares and anxiety…and it bound them together forever. Only they could understand what they had experienced during war and only they could understand the pressures each of them faced when fighting with one another against enemies who were far older and more experienced.

"Naruto, Sakura," Sasuke called out their names with a voice full of lightheartedness, "my family's probably having a welcome home dinner for me. I think Itachi might be coming home as well, since I saw him leaving walking past us earlier today, so there'll definitely be a celebration. You guys," he hesitated bashfully, "want to come over?"

Turning his head over to look at his teammate, Naruto saw worry flit across his face. For all of his calmness and confidence, Sasuke was still subject to the fears of rejection by his friends.

_What a familiar feeling…_

"I don't think your family would like me to be at your little celebration," Naruto replied, his heart clenching upon seeing Sasuke's face fall. He quickly replied, his eyes narrowed and his arms crossed in a mockingly angry manner, "But, I may _grace _your arrogant little home tomorrow."

He peeped his eye open and a saw a smirk flit across Sasuke's before hearing, "Whatever dobe. Just make sure not to make a fool out of yourself in front of my family. I'd never hear the end of it from my dad…and my mom might kill you to prevent me from having a liability as a teammate."

"Hey!"

Sakura suddenly replied, her voice meek with guilt, "I think I'll have to agree with Naruto, Sasuke. My family's not very prominent and it's your celebration. It'd be kind of awkward. I'll definitely come over with Naruto tomorrow, though, believe—how do you say it Naruto?"

Exasperatedly, Naruto replied, "It's 'Believe it!' as if you're really passionate about something," but he added quietly, "though now it sounds _stupid_…"

"Right, we'll be there Sasuke. Believe it! Did I do it right?"

"Perfectly. Well," Naruto leapt up and, dusting off his pants, said, "we'll see you tomorrow Sasuke. Until then Sakura, you wanna get a bite to eat?"

Warily watching Naruto's face, Sakura replied, "Is this a date?"

Naruto assumed a horrified look, "Ugh, Sakura how could you even say such a horrible thing! Eck, all you girls are perverts."

An angry tick appeared on Sakura's forehead, "And why is a date with me so bad?"

"Well for one thing—", it was at that moment that Naruto noticed the tick mark, "um, f-f-for one thing, er, I'm…I'm," his eyes suddenly sparkled with inspiration, "I'm not good enough for you! Yeah, that's it! I would tarnish you're angel—angeli—you get the idea!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Whatever. I'll go somewhere with you, but I decide where we eat, got it?"

Winking slyly at Sasuke, Naruto replied, "The choice is all yours Sakura, as befits one of your—"

Sakura got up, cutting his poetic exercise off, "Yeah, yeah, let's just go alright?"

"Aw, Sakura! It took me forever to sneak into Kakashi's tent to figure out those lines from his book…though there were really weird words in there. Hmm…"

And so, Sasuke watched the pair set off towards down the street, Naruto talking and moving animatedly, while Sakura listened patiently, laughing every now and then at Naruto's antics.

The Uchiha pulled himself off the ground, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and set off towards the Uchiha Compound. Deep down, he was incredibly excited to see his family again, especially his mother, which was a dire blow to his masculinity. He quickly recovered by thinking about his father. He didn't know Sasuke had activated his Sharingan…he'd be so proud! And so would Itachi.

As his thoughts drifted to Itachi, he couldn't help but remember seeing the terribly conflicted expression on his face as he had passed through the crowd. Oh well, he'd work that out when he got home. Right now, he was just happy to be back and in all honesty, Naruto had everything to do with that. Perhaps the Uchiha Clan's disdain of teamwork was misplaced…perhaps Naruto and Sakura really could make him stronger through their friendship. Despite his cold exterior, Sasuke genuinely hoped that was true.

* * *

Naruto sprinted through the hospital doors, his heart hammering against his chest.

_Dammit Sasuke, you'd better be all right._

After he and Sakura had returned from their "date", they had headed towards the small Genin barracks located near the Hokage Tower. As they had been walking, a frantic villager had run past them, screaming, "The Uchiha Clan has been massacred! The Uchiha Clan has been massacred!"

Concerned for Sasuke's safety, they had headed towards the Uchiha Compound, which they found to be completely blocked off by shinobi. Naruto saw a gruff-looking Jounin directing a group of Chuunin and headed for him. When he reached him, he demanded, "What happened? Where's Sasuke? Where's Uchiha Sasuke?"

The Jounin, initially unaware of Naruto's presence in the flurry of the moment, glanced down at Naruto in surprise, "That's none of you—"

"We're his teammates gaki!"

The Jounin's eyes narrowed warily, "Names?"

Sakura, her small form quivering with anxiety, screeched in the loudest voice Naruto and the Jounin had ever had the displeasure to hear, "HARUNO SAKURA AND UZUMAKI NARUTO BAKA! NOW TAKE US TO SASUKE!"

The Jounin, a knowing frown on his face, nodded, "They've taken Uchiha Sasuke to the hospital. There's been a…a massacre."

Horror, equally powerful within both Naruto and Sakura, swelled within them as the Jounin continued, "The Uchiha Clan…we couldn't all of the details out of the boy. He was hysterical, but he kept screaming about Itachi. Referring to Uchiha Itachi I believe. Coincidentally, he's disappeared that must mean—"

Naruto had already taken off, Sakura right beside them. Naruto looked back and saw the Jounin quickly motion four of the Chuunin to follow them. It was just as well. They didn't want to look like conspirators—

_Conspirators in the massacre of the Uchiha Clan…of Sasuke's family. And Itachi…_

And now, both he and Sakura raced through the hospital in search of their teammate, racing past frantic medical staff vainly trying to revive fallen Uchiha. Naruto even thought he saw a Sharingan spinning in the eye of one.

Neither of them had any idea what room Sasuke was in, but they had been in such a rush to reach their friend that they had forgot to ask the secretary at the front desk.

"Naruto," Sakura said, her voice surprisingly still for one who had run for such a long time, "we don't know where Sasuke—"

"It doesn't matter. No doubt there'll be a huge crowd of people around his room. Sasuke's the last of the Uchiha Clan…or one of the last."

Naruto's predictions turned out to be correct as they soon encountered a throng of nearly all of the important members of Konoha. They halted behind an elderly gentleman in a luxurious gray cloak, lined with silky white linen at the sides. Like everyone within the crowd, he was chattering excitedly with someone beside him. In his case, he was attempting to talk to a regal looking woman, obviously a shinobi, with red marks on both of her cheeks and unnaturally sharp canines, much like a dog or a wolf. The woman was pointedly ignoring the man and seemed more intent on discovering the contents within the room. It was a harder task than might be first perceived, for in front of her was every clan head and elder of Konoha, as well as any foreign dignitaries that were residing within the city. The destruction of one of Konoha's most powerful clans, during a war, no less, was no small matter.

For Naruto and Sakura, however, the politics and power play of the people in front of them were as trivial as willow reeds in a typhoon. They cared only to determine Sasuke's well-being and attempted to push through the shouting crowd with little success. Naruto tried yelling to get their attention, but even his loud voice withered before the volume of the crowd. It was Sakura who, noticing the distinct distaste on the canine woman's face at the sight of the crowd, attempted to tug on her shinobi battle armor. The woman instantly grabbed Sakura's hand before she could do anything and glared down at her with a contempt that rivaled that of the Hyuuga…until she saw how young they were.

"You two," she demanded in a barking, commanding tone, "what are you doing here?"

Her desire to see her friend overwhelming her fear, Sakura declared confidently, "We're to our teammate. We've fought with him for too long not to be with hi—"

The woman held up a slender, yet clawed hand, a canine smile on her face, and replied, "No need for a speech girl, I recognize you from my Kiba's description. Now let's see if we can't disperse these _idiots_."

With a snarl fit to frighten a demon, the canine woman, hands wrapped around Naruto and Sakura's wrists, barged her way through the crowd with the power of a person several times her size. Naruto felt his head banging against legs and calves as he was dragged through the crowd. To his great relief, they reached the door quickly. He glanced up from his dazed position to see the woman talking heatedly with a guard at the door. Several moments later, the guard meekly stepped aside and the grabbed the two Genin once again. Their time spent latched on to the woman was far shorter this time as she quickly threw them through the doorway and into the hospital room.

Dazed and confused, Naruto gazed back at the woman to see her smile reassuringly before disappearing back into the crowd.

He shook his head to regain his focus and then began to analyze his surroundings. There wasn't much to analyze, actually, as the room consisted of only a few chairs, a table, a window, a dresser and closet, and a bed which was currently occupied by Sasuke. Suddenly, Naruto recognized the presence of the Hokage and Kakashi-sensei, with the older man sitting sadly beside Sasuke's bed in one of the chairs and the Jounin gazing upon the now orphaned boy with an unreadable expression. None of them so much as past a glance at the two Genin who had fell into the room.

Naruto stood up cautiously, trying his best not to disturb the silence of the room, strangely stronger than the cacophony of sound outside the door. He extended a hand to Sakura, which she gratefully accepted, and hoisted her up. When the two were standing, they made their way towards Sasuke's eerily still form.

Arms laying limply at his side, Sasuke's head was propped up on a pillow against the headrest of the bed. His skin was far paler than normal, making his dark hair seem as black as the night outside. At the moment, his eyes were closed, but Naruto could distinctly see the tear marks forming cracks along his face.

"Naruto, Sakura," The Hokage's voice softly called out their names, startling them enough to cause them to jump, "Sasuke has…been through an ordeal none should have to. He is angry, confused…vengeful, most of all. You must help him through this time. You two are the only family he has left."

"What about _Itachi_," Naruto whispered venomously. In an instant, Sasuke's eyelids shot open and he turned to stare at Naruto with the most chilling gaze he had ever seen.

"Itachi's whereabouts are unknown and it is doubtful we will be able to find him. Do not think about killing Itachi for Sasuke's sake. Such thoughts are deadly and will only bring harm to you and your loved ones. There will come a time when Uchiha Itachi faces the maws of death…", the Hokage fixed Naruto with a stare rivaling Sasuke's, "…but it is neither your place, nor Sakura's, nor Sasuke's to attempt such a foolhardy quest as the assassination of a traitorous Anbu captain. That is our work. Konoha avenges the injustices and horrors committed upon its own. _We _will avenge the Uchiha Clan. Is that understood?"

Though the Hokage's message was heard by the entire room, it was clearly directed at Sasuke, who displayed no sign he had heard the old leader's question at all.

Sighing, the Hokage stood up and left the room, his cane tapping softly against the ground. The sound outside increased and subsequently decreased as the door opened and closed. Kakashi too began to leave, but turned at the last minute and said, "Sasuke, the Hokage means what he said. We take care of our own. Itachi will burn for what he did, have no doubt; but you must not let yourself be consumed by vengeance. Itachi will win if you do."

With that, Kakashi left, quietly opening and closing the door and disappearing into the mob outside.

When they were alone, Naruto and Sakura moved closer to Sasuke's bed. It was only then that Sasuke moved. He closed his eyes. For a moment, Naruto thought he had fallen asleep, but in an instant they snapped open, revealing Sasuke's halfway developed Sharingan spinning madly within his sockets.

The horror Naruto felt upon seeing this was mirrored by a sharp pain in his left arm. Looking over his left shoulder, he saw Sakura clutching his arm in an iron grip, her eye wide with fear and worry.

"Naruto…Sakura," Sasuke's voice carried a drained air, as if having been screaming beforehand, "if you are truly my friends, you will help me in my vengeance…," Sasuke's voice suddenly rose to terrible heights, "you will help me kill Itachi!"

* * *

Team 7 raced through the forests of Konoha at breakneck speed. At their lead was Sasuke, his body taut with endless energy and rage. Several meters behind him were Sakura and Naruto, desperately trying to keep up with their friend.

It had been a week since the Uchiha incident. Sasuke had been released from the hospital by then and, confronted by an endless row of politicians and shinobi elders, taken refuge within Naruto's forlorn apartment. From there, he laid out his plan to find Itachi and kill him. Naruto knew that the plan would never work. It wasn't a plan that needed a miracle to work or would be ensured by one crucial detail…it was absolutely and utterly futile, an idea Naruto had never allowed himself to feel about anything. Despite his best efforts to convince Sasuke otherwise, Naruto found himself, and eventually Sakura, aiding in the planning process. While Naruto was sure Sasuke stood no chance against Itachi, he had a great deal more doubt that Sasuke wouldn't be able to sneak out of Konoha. If anything, he would not let him attempt to kill Itachi alone.

And so, the three Genin had snuck out of Konoha three nights before and were heading off in search of clues to Itachi's whereabouts. The "plan" had been to basically sneak out of Konoha. After that, they would search for tracks using Sasuke's Sharingan and interrogate whoever they came across.

_Utterly and completely hopeless_, Naruto thought once again, gloomily leaping over a tree branch.

From what Naruto saw of the map, they were nearing the Ame-Kusa border. There were so many flaws in the plan that Naruto found himself wandering if Sasuke had not gone completely insane. For one thing, they were still wearing their Konoha forehead protectors, a dead giveaway to any enem—

Suddenly, Sakura called out, "NARUTO!"

He barely had time to leap to the side as a lightning bolt obliterated the tree he had been ready to jump off of.

_Kumo nin!_

Naruto searched the surrounding area for his teammates, whom he found within a tree, worriedly searching the landscape for his presence. Before they could do anything, several more lightning bolts crashed all around them forcing them to scatter. Instincts honed by battle guided the Konoha nin towards each other and they soon gathered beside a tree as lightning bolts continued to rain down upon the forest.

"Dammit Sasuke, we've been ambushed! We have to get outta here now!"

"NO! We stay and fight our way out of this."

"Wha—"

"Don't argue with me Naruto! Move into formation Kappa…NOW!"

Sakura attempted to dissuade Sasuke from his foolhardiness, "Sasuke, we have no idea how strong the enemy is or—"

"I DON'T CARE! Now move!"

Naruto stared into Sasuke's feverish eyes sadly, "Fine! Once we're done with this I'm goin' back to Konoha!"

"Naruto, wait!"

He ignored Sakura's pleas and sped off through the trees, frantically searching for the enemy nin. Lightning bolts cascaded all around him, filling the very air he breathed with energy. Finally, he spotted the gray tunic of a Kumo nin.

Naruto rapidly began performing hand seals and whispered "Soyokaze no Jutsu!" A slice of wind quietly tore through the trunk of the tree the Kumo nin rested upon, causing it to fall to its side. The shinobi instantly leapt away towards another tree. It was at that moment that Naruto's waiting Kage Bunshin, henged as a tree branch, deactivated its henge and fired several kunai at the nin. One lodged itself the shinobi's calf while the other pierced his thigh. Naruto winced as the man crumpled to the floor of the forest.

In an instant, the man's comrade launched a Raiton at the clone. To Naruto's great dismay, the lightning bolt ricocheted off of the clone upon dispelling it and headed straight towards Naruto.

_Shit!_

Naruto had no time to dodge such a large projectile and luckily he didn't have to. A Suiton, in the form of a stream of water, redirecting the lightning bolt into tree off to Naruto's left.

_Sakura…I love you_, Naruto thought, sighing in relief as he did so.

His nerves tingled with the pent-up fear left over from her near death experience as he jumped to another tree. Sakura was around eighty meters behind him. Naruto had no idea where Sasuke was, until he soared over top his head. He quickly sped past the Uchiha and towards a small clearing in the middle of the forest.

"Sasuke, I'll bait them out, then you take them out with a Katon."

Sasuke nodded in the affirmative and took position in a tree near the clearing. Naruto then leapt off of the tree and, as soon his feet touched the ground, propelled himself into the clearing.

_Alright, now to do some acting._

Naruto started sprinting towards the other end of the clearing as if frantically retreating. Though the enemy nin might have found his retreat strange considering his victory over their comrade, Naruto had had plenty of experience with shinobi underestimating his abilities and resolve because of his age.

Sure enough, a gray-clad ninja appeared in the clearly and began cautiously pursuing Naruto. Slowing down a bit, Naruto made it look like he was running out of breath, missing every other step and flailing his arms wildly.

In an instant, a flash of white light erupted next to his foot, sending him hurtling through the air. He threw his arms in front him seconds before he collided with the earth. Strange sounds rang through his head, as he tried to stand up. This was rather unsuccessful as he was saying everything in multiple afterimages. Despite this, he noticed the second, and hopefully final, Kumo nin, in the form of a dizzying gray blur, land beside the first Kumo nin.

_Oh…wow. I think I might die._

This assumption, so frivolously declared, was confirmed when a bolt of lightning hit him square in the chest, sending him flying through the air once again.

* * *

He opened his eyes. He must have gone unconscious because one of the Kumo nin was standing directly over him, while the other was engaging Sasuke and Sakura in a heated battle. The second Kumo nin retreated back to the first, keeping Naruto's teammates at bay with another Raiton jutsu.

Though Naruto's world was still a blur and the sounds in his head sang in his head, he could still make out the desperate wail of his beloved Sakura, crying out his name frantically. There was nothing he could do…except for one final, glorious thing.

He let his chakra flood into his jutsu, something done without thought as it always was since he had done it over and over.

As the first Kumo nin raised a kunai to deliver the finishing blow, as the second Kumo nin warded off Sasuke and Sakura's frantic attempts at rescue, a clone, as battered and bruised as the original, pathetically leapt out of the ground and latched on to the Kumo with the blade.

Naruto, a smile as thin as glass on his face, whispered, "Bunshin…Daibakuha…"

The clone exploded magnificently, engulfing Naruto and the two helpless Kumo nin in fiery might.

_Pain…pain…pain…_

His world was pain in that moment that lasted his lifetime; yet despite that, he could hear the two cries of agony.

_Those poor Kumo. I'm so sorry._

Naruto suddenly realized that the cries were not from the Kumo nin, but from Sakura and Sasuke.

He opened his eyes, hurt shooting throughout his scorched nerves. Even through his tattered orbs, he could see his beloved teammates racing to retrieve him…and then they stopped. There was an explosion of light and sound near them, obviously lightning, but there was no reason for them to stop…why did they stop? Why didn't they save him? Why? He could vaguely hear more Kumo nin behind him, but…

_Please, help me…HELP ME!_

But they didn't. They could only dodge the jutsu of the Kumo and retreat further away. He saw Sakura's form collapse, he heard her heart wrenching cry, he saw Sasuke lift her up over his shoulder, his face wet with tears…and he saw them leave. They were gone, and in their place were innumerable gray blurs.

His vision gradually faded to a mixture of black and gray as the blurs surrounded him. A faint pulse was all that was left of his life…a mere trickle, slowly fading into oblivion.

He heard a soft rustle of some light, feathery object and then the quick gurgles of slit throats. But Naruto didn't care…not even when two graceful arms, gentler than the breeze that surrounded him, cradled him close to their owner's soft bosom. He had stopped caring the moment they left him, the moment they disappeared into the forest. He was ready to die, to leave this world that hated him so; but the care, the warmth, the tenderness of the arms that wrapped around him so gently would not let him and he resigned himself to life…

* * *

**A/N**: Don't worry, future chapters won't be nearly as long, or delayed. Because of its length, I considered splitting it into two chapters, but I felt having one chapter about Naruto stealing the Forbidden Scroll and another about his time two years later would be kind of ridiculous. Whatever is right, so long as you the readers are happy, I'm fine. As for pairings, this will definitely be a Naruto/Younger Anko fic, but I'm open to any other pairing ideas for different characters. Let me know what you think. Finally, I would greatly appreciate it if you would all review my work. I want to make my fic the best it can be and I need your constructive criticism to do that. I hope you enjoyed Chapter 2 of _Naze?_,

Oramo


	3. Rebirth

**A/N**: Thanks for all of the reviews. It's really helping me improve my writing. Some of you mentioned how my I seemed to jump around a lot. I totally agree and I assure you that it will be much more organized from now on. The only reason I did that was to move the story along as quickly as possible and part of the problem was that the underlines I used to signify a time-skip didn't download onto my final draft. Instead, I think I'll just use asterisks. Also, I'm fairly certain I want Naruto to really mature emotionally as well as physically, given the two people he'll be spending a lot of time with. You'll see what I mean fairly soon.

Also, you'll notice in the following map that there are two unnamed countries in between Konoha and Kumo. Oto also presents an obstacle to Kumo, but because it hasn't been formed yet, it is merely Rice Country and a neutral, albeit manipulated, country near Konoha. In my fic, Konoha has absorbed the two unnamed countries and extended its borders up to Kumo's own borders. Also, the second main camp of Konoha, the Uxesutanbakuei, is located within both Taki and Kusa, since both countries are allies of Konoha. Sorry I didn't explain this in the last chapter, but the map I checked for "Tears of a Clown" was incorrect.

So, it is my great honor and privilege (allow me my fun) to present to you noble readers Chapter 3 of _Naze?_: "Rebirth".

'thoughts'

"talking"

**Kyuubi**

_Thoughts/memories_

Naze?

_Rebirth_

A black cloak whipped in the wind as a lithe figure sprinted through the mud plains of Ame. The gait of the shinobi, for only a shinobi could move so quickly, was easy, untiring, and sure, suggesting an intimate knowledge of the land. The land itself was merely a disconcertingly large span of muddy ground and rocky hills that led to a dizzying labyrinth of crevasses and caves. The inhospitable terrain of Ame was one of the many reasons even Konoha avoided war with them, a fact which the notorious Hanzo the Salamander, current leader of Amegakure, exploited as often as he could.

The figure stopped for a moment and glanced down into its hands, ascertaining the condition of a small bundle in its grasp. Coming to some unknown conclusion, it quickly gazed across the landscape, apparently searching for shelter from the pounding rain. Spotting a large cave nearby, it resumed its sprint at an increased speed and soon reached small cavern.

Wet moss, slimy and green, clung to the cave walls with the voracity of something that desires survival above all else. The air inside the fissure was moist and cool, with drops of water beating a stealthy rhythm to the cave's monotony. The figure cautiously set the bundle onto the ground, revealing slender hands with painted black fingernails and a ring with a kanji sign upon it. The hands grasped the edges of the cloak's hood and pulled it down. A face, as pale and cold as snow that never came to Ame, suddenly shone through the gloom of the cave. Indigo hair, elegantly shadowing eyes the color of the mountains, soon appeared out of the hood as well, fully exposing the beautiful face of a young woman.

A slight movement from the bundle drew Konan's attention, prompting her to cautiously begin removing the black wrap she had put around it for protection against the rain. Within moments, the terribly burnt face of a small, blond-haired boy appeared. Of course, his hair was nearly as decrepit looking as the skin peeling off his body, with little blond tuffs appearing on his head every now and then. But it had been far worse. When she'd found him, his entire body was red and drawn, like a ripening prune, and his face…years of seeing others in similar conditions allowed her to keep her stomach and, most importantly, her head. She'd need her wits now more than ever to deal with the mess she'd created; and all because of a silly little boy. Of course, had he not happened to be the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, she would have surely left him.

She gazed impassively into the child's scrunched up face, bulging and reddening hideously with pain.

_There it is…_

Red chakra, faint as the wind, was slowly working its way across the boy's skin, healing the damage his nearly fatal jutsu had caused him. It had been this healing ability that had caused her to intervene in the battle. How could she not? Upon seeing the red chakra surround the boy and begin to heal him, a minute scrap of data had shot straight to the forefront of her mind: _"From recorded data of past Jinchuriki of the infamous Kyuubi, a common trait exists among them. That trait being that they have all possessed the miraculous ability to heal any wound inflicted upon them through the use of the Kitsune's potent, fluid chakra. This appears to only occur during times of great emotional stress, anger, or when the Jinchuriki's life is threatened…"_

She had acted instantly, slitting the converging Kumo nin's throats with her paper easily. They were too dumbfounded by the boy's transformation to truly comprehend their own deaths.

She still couldn't believe her own luck. She had been gathering information in Kusa, a rudimentary task more fit for the creature Zetsu than her; but _he_ had requested it, out of worry that the increasingly violent war between Konoha and the Iwa-Kumo alliance would spread to Ame. This was especially important since Ame's neighbor, Kusa, housed the Uxesutanbakuei of Konoha as a part of their alliance. While a war would have been helpful to their mission in the short term, it would also draw attention to their plans and that was a situation that could simply not occur. For this reason, Konan dutifully searched and scoured Grass Country for any information about the progress of the war. While she learned some interesting tidbits about Suna and Kiri (specifically, their policy of sending aid to their Konoha allies, but not troops) and some devastating loss Konoha had been dealt concerning one of their clans, increasing the possibility that they would declare a ceasefire, there was no conclusive data pointing to the war spreading into Ame.

After she had gathered as much information as she could in the small villages of Kusa, she had returned westward towards the border of Ame. Upon reaching the border, she had veered to the east to double-check any faults in their patrols…and stumbled upon a fairly serious battle between Kumo and Konoha. The battle itself had occurred within in the middle of the forest next to the Ame border. A few hundred more yards and Konan would have been safe—politically anyway—and she would have been very content to leave the shinobi to their business; but then, as she had prepared to leap off the branch she had rested upon, she had caught a glance of one of the Konoha shinobi, sprawled helplessly at the feet of one of the Kumo.

Konan did not consider herself cruel or unkind; rather, she only cared about what was necessary for her mission, her ultimate mission, to succeed. Thus, she had felt no guilt watching the child sputter about like a dying fish as the Kumo warrior above prepared to deliver the fatal blow. What possible use could he be to them? Yet when a clone, half-dead as it was, had appeared behind the two Kumo, latched on to one of them, and exploded, her estimation of the Genin had gone up tremendously.

Konan, despite her outward indifference, cared deeply about those who were important to her and would do anything to ensure their survival and success. To see another display similar dedication was rare…and rather refreshing. It was for this reason that Konan had decided to linger a while longer, feeling a small tinge of hope that the boy had survived.

When the smoke from the explosion had cleared, she had been greeted by a predictable sight: the two Kumo nin, helpless victims of the Konoha's ingenuity and determination, had lain scorched and lifeless upon the shattered ground. The boy had been in a similar state, his clothes and body blackened and shredded by the force of his explosion.

The events that had happened after the explosion still saddened Konan. The boy's comrades had rushed from the edge of the forest towards him, but had abruptly stopped upon seeing over a dozen Kumo reinforcements emerging from the opposite side of the clearing. Pitiful mewling, like that of a bleeding animal lying prostrate upon a forlorn path, suddenly pierced through the soft sounds of the slowly advancing Kumo nin.

She had watched as the boy's body, mutilated beyond recognition, made some unknown movement, presumably towards his teammates, begging them to save them. Konan knew what would happen: the teammates, heartbroken and torn, would abandon him, aware that they would die if they attempted a rescue. Such was the burden that had been placed upon the two children as they had fled into the forest, the girl's wails of horror audible after they were long out of view.

The Kumo had started to pursue, leaping over the blistered and maimed body of the Konoha nin without a thought…until a massive spike in chakra violently forced their attention away from their quarry. Konan had had only one thought upon seeing the red maelstrom surrounding the boy:

_Kyuubi._

There had been no emotion or contemplation…years of studying the Bijuu and the attributes of their Jinchuriki for their ultimate goal—their ultimate dream—had suddenly formed a single impulse within her mind that was similar to her previous thought in its simplicity:

_Save him._

There had been no room for argument or second-guessing. She had sped towards the Kumo, sliced open their gullets with blades of paper, and picked up the barely human creature sprawled wretchedly upon the ground. The chakra had stung her to the bone, gnawing its way through her delicate skin, but Konan had not let the boy fall as she leapt through the trees. On the contrary, she had cradled the half-dead thing closer to her chest, shielding it from the impending torrent of rain within Ame. It was when she had first stopped in a cave to check on the Jinchuriki's status that she noticed its remarkable healing abilities. Already Konan had been able to see flesh and bone, shattered and burnt to a crisp during the explosion, slowly begin to reform along the boy's body.

And now, after two days of travelling, Konan watched over the boy's healing once more, monitoring his vital signs and the like. He had not yet awakened from the fitful and terror-ridden unconsciousness he succumbed to when she rescued him and could do little more than moan and twitch.

As she gazed down upon the poor soul, Konan realized that she wasn't sure if the boy in front of her was in fact a boy. She had only caught a blurred glance of him from several hundred yards away and at his age (six or seven if she were to judge by his height), boys and girls looked very similar. Curious, she gently examined its tiny face, still scrunched up in a mixture of terror and pain as its mind waded through the weird wonders of delirium. Yes, the boy was indeed a boy. A girl's expressions were far softer than this and had more of a slant to their bones. Boys' faces were often angular and jutting.

He suddenly convulsed, flailing his tender arms about him in search of a phantasm within his nightmare. Konan observed his actions blankly, her eyes peeled for any further damage he might cause to his muscles.

In a movement that could only be described as inhuman, the boy suddenly latched onto Konan's cloak and attempted to yank her close to him. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she quickly recovered and tenderly removed the boy's arm from her tunic. Throughout this episode, the faint tendrils of red chakra frenetically trying to heal the boy's broken body evaporated or thinned to nearly invisible levels of size, the boy's movement apparently too much for them to handle.

Konan sighed, _This could take longer than I had first anticipated. The boy is in critical condition and it seems that not even the might of the Kyuubi will be able to hold him together for long. The Kitsune's probably never had a Jinchuriki undergo such damage at such a young age. That _was_ a large explosion. _

She suddenly noticed herself caringly twirling one of the boy's strands of hair through her fingers. She didn't stop, however. For two days, she had carried this boy next to her bosom, tending to his wounds where she could and ensuring the Kyuubi could properly heal him. Perhaps she had grown slightly attached to him. What did it mat—

_It matters because he will have to die for our plan to succeed…and _I _will be the one to lead him to his death._

Her reprimand was quick and unquestioning. If she became attached in any way, she would grieve over his inevitable death and become a liability. But still, it was not as if they were ready to draw out the Kyuubi. He was still working on the sealing jutsu. To house all nine Bijuu was, to put it lightly, a monumental task. Such a task would require time and patience, which was the main reason he hadn't wanted any of them to start acquiring Jinchuriki. Until they could start withdrawing the Bijuu, possessing the hosts would do little but potentially expose them.

Konan checked the boy's body once more and, seeing no further signs of the Kyuubi's chakra, wrapped the boy back into the cloth and leapt into the rain, her mind buzzing with macabre and mournful ideas.

* * *

There was light, great and roaring, directly in front of his face. At first he thought it was the sun, for it burned with a brightness and heat that could only have come from the daytime guardian of the Earth. As his eyes painfully adjusted to its radiance, however, he began to recognize the amorphous form of a fire.

_Fire…why does that word make my head hur—_

The memories rushed back to him with the force of flood, drowning his thoughts and consciousness in a sea of emotions and horrors:

_…a ball of fire engulfing his limbs…_

_ …screaming—terrible, inhuman screaming—that flies from his mouth unbidden…_

_ …emerald eyes and onyx orbs shine with guilty tears…_

_ …pain, greater than the inferno within his bones…_

_ …why did they leave me—WHY DID THEY LEAVE ME?_

He tried to clutch his head with his hands, hoping against hope that throttling his pounding head would ease its aching, but found that he could not move his hands. This sent him into a whole new state of panic, far more trivial, he soon realized, than the emotional turmoil that had sent his head spinning in the first place. What did it matter if he couldn't move his arms? What did it matter if he couldn't move _anything_? He was alone…again. They had abandoned him. They had—

Glistening globules of tears formed his cracked and weary eyes, prompting him to stop his debilitating thought process to sniffle. As soon as he twitched his nose, a hand, its refreshingly cold touch oddly familiar, grasped his jaw. In an instant, another was rubbing a chilling cream across his face, bringing with it alternating sensations of burning and relief.

He tried to follow the hand to its owner, but the grip on his jaw was rigid and he remained unaware of his caretaker's identity. It was only after the last of the cream had been rubbed away that Naruto chanced a glance at the person. The touch had been familiar and Sakura was quite skilled with medicinal herbs. Maybe she had—no, the woman kneeling next to his head examining his face with a disturbingly blank expression was unfamiliar. Neither Sakura nor Sasuke were anywhere nearby. He was completely and utterly alone, a sad summary of his life.

Perhaps the Kumo had taken him captive. Perhaps this woman had merely been passing by and rescued him. However he had come to be in this place, he didn't care. In fact, anything he didn't care about only brought him pain. Nothing seemed significant or worthy of his attention before. Not jutsu, not becoming powerful, not his rivalry with Sasuke…not even his private oath to protect Sakura mattered to him any longer. All he wanted to do was sleep…to just relax his heavy eyes and gently fall into an eternal, peaceful slumber—

"What is your name?"

The eyelids that Naruto had been so happily ready to close, perhaps for the last time, reluctantly snapped open. It was his surrogate caretaker that spoke, yet her countenance was so emotionless and still that Naruto wondered if he had merely imagined the question. Question or not, he had to admit that the woman quite easy to look at. Her skin, paler than the snow on the mountains in Kumo, majestically accented her deep blue hair, making her appear to be some ethereal creature of myth rather than a mortal human. The structure of her face was perfect, as if crafted by the gods themselves, and further placed her within the realm of the exotic. And all of it was radiated by the warm touch of the fire softly crackling beside.

For a moment, Naruto forgot his loneliness and was content to stare into the woman's strange and beautiful eyes. That moment was only a moment, after all, and when it passed, he found the light of the fire paler, the woman's face colder, and her warm eyes glassy and fake. Despair once again seized his heart and he turned away, preparing once again to close his eyes.

"You did not answer me."

Would this woman not leave him be? Did she not understand? Could she not see that answers and questions were insignificant compared to the horror he had undergone?

Naruto turned his back towards her and found her formerly impassive face staring at him intently.

_Apparently, she _doesn't _understand._

It would do no good for her to interrupt him whenever he was trying to "leave". Perhaps she would let him alone if he satisfied her request, "Uzumaki Naruto." At least, that's what he _wanted _to say. What actually _did _come out of his mouth was mixture between a dry, gravelly grunt and a sickening gurgle.

Though he could not speak, Naruto managed to yelp in surprise. This quickly turned into cynical humor, _Figures. Can't move, can't speak. It's like Death is giving me multiple invitations to a party. How humor—_

"EHPLAHH!" A liquid of some sort was suddenly poured down his marginally fractured mouth, causing him to sputter and cough horribly.

Naruto frantically tried to sit up and extricate the substance from his throat, but the powerful hand of the woman, deceivingly slender, held his chest firmly to the ground with her left hand, while her right tilted his head upward so he could swallow the fluid.

The liquid (a type of medicine, Naruto hoped) flowed down his esophagus of its own accord, aggravating his unused vocal chords with one of the most annoying stinging sensations he had every felt. He wanted to spit it out, but he had a feeling the comforting hand resting on his chest would be quick in forcing him to swallow the foul medicine bubbling uncomfortably within his throat.

When the stinging feeling finally faded away, Naruto relaxed his head against the woman's head, prompting her to let his head to the ground. To him, it felt that as soon as his tired skull touched the muddy ground upon which he lay, the woman, her voice quickly becoming annoying, asked again, "What is your name?"

Too tired to answer; yet his mind was more lucid than it had ever been. Naruto knew exactly what had led him to this situation and he knew exactly what he wanted…and he regarded it all with sad detachment. He just wanted the soft blackness of sleep to envelop him…envelop him forever within oblivion so that he would never have to feel the pain of life. He wouldn't have had this problem if those arms, obviously belonging to the woman, hadn't saved him.

His eyelids slowly began closing, bringing with them blessed darkness.

"The medicine should have cleared your throat enough for you to speak. Please answer my question."

The darkness receded once again, leaving Naruto with only a memory of the bliss he could have had. That, and a major headache.

He cast the most ferocious glare and nastiest snarl he could muster at the woman before growling, "Leave me _alone_!"

To his incredible vexation, the woman showed no signs of having heard him and asked him, "Why do you not answer me?"

He stared at her evenly. He returned his stare with an indifference that might've led him to think she was a statue, brought to life by his own insane imaginings. But she wasn't and this was proven every moment he stayed awake…every moment he remained in the world of the living. The peaceful exhaustion that had graced his limbs was fast leaving him and he found that, soon, he would not be able to leave at all.

_Why won't she leave me _be_? Why doesn't she leave me, like the—p-please…I can't keep t-them back. Let me die…let me fade away into nothing…_

That was it, the reason he desired to die so much. For every second his mind kept alert, the memories of the clearing, the Kumo nin, Sasuke and Sakura—

_NO! I-I can't stand even a _thought _of _them_! Let me die, let me die, lemme die…lemme d-die—_

A soothing hand, very similar to the graceful arms that had wrapped around him so lovingly, gently brushed against his face as his thoughts dissolved into senseless rambling.

From somewhere deep within himself, Naruto heard his voice say, a pained gasp, "Uzumaki…Naruto."

* * *

Konan's hand touching the boy's—Naruto's face was as subconscious as his own belated response. She had seen the pained grimace cross his face, she had heard the frantic mumblings issuing forth from his mouth like bubbles in boiling water, and she had _understood_ it. It was not her hand that had reached out to comfort Naruto's bereaved mind, but the hand of the pain she had experienced as a child when her parents were killed and she was left alone. It had only been her life with _him _that had given her the drive, the purpose, to live.

_This child…he needs to live and for him to live, he must have a purpose. Perhaps I can—_

"W-what," a small cough, "is your name?"

She stared down at him, startled at the sound of his voice. Quickly pushing this away, she quipped, "Why should I tell you, when you were so reluctant to answer my own question?"

Apparently, her joke was lost upon Naruto, or not performed adequately, for his face contorted into an angry frown, "_Fine_ then," he rasped out, coughs intermittently interrupting his words, "don't tell me your…d-damn…name."

He ended his exhortation with a particularly pathetic string of coughs, prompting Konan to pour more of her herbal medicine down his throat. After he had swallowed the liquid, albeit reluctantly and with much struggle, he settled down once more onto the ground.

She gazed upon his face intently, studying how is skin, once red and blistered, now appeared to be reaching a more normal color. Despite this progress, something about the boy seemed…gone. The anger he exhibited towards her was empty and hollow, as if it was a mask without a face underneath.

Yet, she could see a tiny flicker of humanity within his empty blue eyes. A precious memory or perhaps that innate drive in humans, in all organisms, to survive…she could not say. Whatever it was, it was all she had to keep him alive, to keep him wanting to live. To that, she had to give him something to hold onto.

_A reason to live…such things are not come by easily. Something will have to be done to get him to trust me. I suppose I could start with my name._

After calmly waiting for his coughing fit to cease, she said, her eyes never leaving Naruto's face, "Konan."

The boy glanced up at her, his hairless eyebrow region cocked in surprise. In an instant, what she assumed to be a wistful smile crossed his face and he replied, his voice quiet amidst the crackling fire, "Humph, 'bout time you started actin' polite."

Konan allowed herself a small smirk, amused at the boy's response. His face added to this, emitting an aura of confidence that would have drowned the world had it been the ocean. Suddenly, with the instantaneousness she was coming to associate with Naruto, his demeanor changed. As quickly as it came, the smile vanished and was replaced by a horrified gape. His voice, a pained whisper now, begged her, "My headband! Where's my headband?"

She gazed upon his writhing form quizzically, _Why would he desire such an object? Would it not be a symbol of the very friends who betrayed him? No doubt he was mistreated in Konoha because of his Jinchuriki status, as well…why then?_

It would not do to delve into his pain too quickly, though, so Konan acquiesced to Naruto's desire and removed his tattered and burnt Konoha headband from within her cloak.

"It was knocked off during the explosion," she said as she placed it next to him, closely studying his relieved face as he gazed upon it, "but I didn't even think to put it back on you. My apologies…I would not have thought it meant so much—"

"And what would make you think _that_?"

Konan inwardly grimaced. Naruto's visage bespoke fury at the slightest hint of his teammates' betrayal, exactly what she had been hoping to avoid. But then again, she was used to getting out of unfavorable situations.

She morphed her face into one of mild surprise, "Oh, I didn't mean to offend. I've just never heard of a ninja being so attached to a replaceable piece of equipme—"

"Well you've obviously never heard of anyone like me," he snapped furiously, his still mending and red skin radiating fury. "This," he jerked his head in the direction of the threadbare item, "was given to me by my v—" his eyes widened for a moment, giving him pause, "m-m-my v-vill—" his face quivered with effort, as if trying to hold something back. "my v-vil—"

There was nothing for it now. Tears, large and bulbous, poured from his face with the rapidity of a flooding river. His chin shook and he gulped up air in large heaves; yet no noise left him…only the sparkling tears rushing down his face gave any sign to the world that he bore the unimaginable pain of rejection.

Quietly, when Naruto closed his eyes, Konan grabbed the headband and cast it into the fire. Though she did this in order to get the boy to forget his ties to Konoha, a part of her, buried under years of killing and suffering, longed to end Naruto's endless suffering; and that part of her, without the awareness or will of her conscious mind, pledged to help the boy in whatever way she could. How she would do so, however, Konan had no idea.

* * *

The unremarkable caves that made up the Ame rebel forces' hideout served many purposes: meeting place, council room, hideout, barracks, hospital…it was this last area that she needed it for now. She had carried Naruto for a total of six days, leaping through hills and caverns to avoid Hanzo's forces, so that he could be brought before her Leader. Throughout that entire time, the chakra of the Kyuubi had been slowly healing her charge's wounds, sifting through flesh and bone to undo the damage he had brought upon himself. But despite that, he was dying. Death carried one of the most recognizable smells of any Konan knew and Naruto stunk of it without question.

Despite her calm demeanor as she leapt into one of the many natural alcoves of their hideout, Konan was an emotional mess inside. The child cradled to her chest gasped out breaths with the reluctance a starving person feasting on their first food in days…only Naruto wasn't being rejuvenated or refreshed at all. This tore at Konan's heart terribly, especially since she had come to know the boy.

During the four days after Naruto had first awoken, they had begun talking with each other more and more. Konan engaged Naruto in conversation simply to endear her to him, providing something to fill the void doubtlessly gnawing at the insides of his heart. It had seemed to work. After a day of conversing, Naruto displayed an eagerness to talk that lasted for the rest of the trip. While he claimed it was because he couldn't move (a fact that seemed to frustrate him endlessly), Konan could see the hunger in his eyes for human companionship. Anything to keep him from thinking about the _incident_…anything to keep him from breaking down into tears again. He asked her where she was from, who she knew, if she was a ninja, if she was a _good _ninja, if she could make some random type of ramen that he used to love as a child—every question that Konan thought was possible to ask of a person and more erupted from Naruto's mouth with an energy and enthusiasm that was…well, contagious. She starting looking forward to their talks and had apparently displayed this enthusiasm a tad too openly when she greeted him with an overly happy smile, which he seemed, to Konan's slight consternation, to take great pleasure in mocking.

Eventually, he had started confiding things in her as well. He told her tales of joviality and mirth that had elicited laughter from even her guarded depths. At a particularly somber hour, when night had blanketed the sky, he had told her of a private oath he had taken to protect a certain girl and how it had been the reason he had pushed himself to become a good shinobi in the first place. The pink-haired teammate's heartrendingly sad face had appeared into her mind instantly. Before Konan had known what was happening, she was holding Naruto's sobbing face close to her chest, whispering comforting words into his nearly full head of blonde locks.

They seemed closer than ever after that moment. But, despite this, Konan could tell that something within him was fading. He had been waking up later and later and his temper, so easily roused, had almost begun seeming…forced, as if he was putting it up for her sake. Even their talks, which had so entranced the both of them in the beginning, had started to clearly wear him out. She had no idea why this was happening and she could do nothing to stop it.

Finally, on this very morning, when Konan had prompted Naruto to wake up, he had remained still. Her reaction was immediate: she quickly wrapped in his bundle of cloth, held him close to her body, and leapt off towards their hideout.

Now she was racing through doors and tunnels known long by her feet, her heart pounding with fear. She looked down into his pale, feverish face, covered messily by sweat-covered hair, and silently pleaded to entities' unknown for his safety.

Finally, she reached a particularly large wooden door and burst through it. To her immediate relief, the man she was looking for stood with his back turned, bent over looking at a scroll on an unremarkable desk. At her noisy entrance, he turned around smoothly, his remarkable eyes gazing first upon her and then the disturbingly still child in her arms.

"This boy must live. You must help him…," she gazed at him with all of the intensity she could muster, "…Pain-sama."

* * *

_A swirling chaos…his memories, all of them as painful as his worst imaginings of hell, permeated his essence…_

_The sweetly smiling face of a girl, her pink hair radiating underneath the sunlight filtering through the trees of a park, unexpectedly appeared in the mass…and then contorted into a wicked and malicious grin before bursting into a thousand pieces. The pieces swarmed around his being, cruelly taunting him with their hate._

_In an instant, it was void once more. Memories, all as hateful as the first, oozed out of the formless mass and assaulted him with terrible tenacity:_

…_Fists pounding into his flesh as he vainly tried to crawl to the Academy…_

…_His plan, so masterful in design, was easily destroyed by Sasuke…_

…_Fiery pain swirled with horrified grief—they were gone, forever swallowed up by the depths of the forest…and he could do nothing…_

_Hatred, horrible hatred, surged through his entire being. Why did this happen to him? WHY?_

_And then it was gone. In that instant in which he cried out to whatever nameless deity that resided in the heavens, cold reason bitterly washed over him and the tumult of memories ceased. It was replaced by a calm, dark void._

_The stillness of the place allowed Naruto to nurture his fractured self and ascertain his condition. When he tried to move his head to look around, he was met only by darkness. Whether this meant the darkness was so think he couldn't see or he had somehow lost his body, he had no idea. This question was answered when he attempted to touch his nose with his hand and felt nothing. Surprisingly, Naruto was quite calm about the situation. The logic of survival, the logic of adaptation, rang as clear as a bell within him._

"_I suppose I could float," he spoke, his voice a small echo in the void. This made no difference, for the darkness concealed any object that might've given him a clue to his location. He couldn't even sure he was actually floating._

_**How amusing.**_

_If Naruto had actually been floating, he stopped immediately. He was unsure of how to respond, mainly because he didn't know _how _to respond or if there was anything to respond to. Nevertheless, he attempted to communicate with…whatever it was, "Who's there?"_

_A tired wind blew over Naruto's essence, as if a giant beast had sighed. The deep voice spoke again, this time in a tone that conveyed severe fatigue: __**I'm not surprised you don't know me, but I'm sure you know of me. This is only the second time we've spoken after all.**_

_Naruto, despite the unexpected absence of his emotions, could not contain his bewilderment, or his growing alarm, "Wha—you didn't answer my question. Who, or what, are you? And what do you mean this is the second time we've spoken. I would've remembered—"_

_He suddenly felt a massive presence shift forward in the darkness. And then, in a voice that surrounded him in every part of the void, the thing replied, __**Do you not remember the villagers and their cruel hands upon your bones? Have you forgotten your rage and hatred that once consumed your every thought? Most importantly, do you recall the **_**power **_**that rushed through your blood-soaked veins when you let that rage and hatred consume you?**_

_The memory appeared before in all of its pain and then disappeared once more, a terrible shadow waiting to strike once more, "Y-yes…"_

_The voice continued, __**Of course you do. While we may not have spoken in your discovery, your language, we were communicating on a level all living beings understand. You were hurt, rejected, hated and you didn't want that any longer. It was quite understandable for you to give in. I merely offered you a way to act on that rage. You declined and we went on…nothing more.**_

"_But…why?"_

_Another vibration rippled throughout the void, this time sounding like weary laughter, __**Think upon what I have already told you. You don't know me, but you know of me. I have offered you power to act upon your rage and hatred. What might I be?**_

_Naruto had no idea. Obviously something villainous…and notorious, but he knew of nothing like tha—_

"_Wait. I—you sound like something, the _only _thing, that I've heard of that fits your description."_

_With the patience of many years, the voice replied, __**And what might that be?**_

_Tentatively, Naruto suggested, "Well, there was this demon, a really powerful demon, that attacked," he would have licked his lips in distaste had he a body, "_Konoha…_and it killed a lot of people. But, the Fourth Hokage found a way to slay the beast at the cost of his own life, saving the village and its citizens from its wrath. But you—you couldn't possibly be that thing…could you? It was killed. Our historical records state that it was killed."_

_**Do you know of any other entity that fits the information I have given you?**_

"_You mean something notorious and manipulative? No—well, if you go by the what the villagers say, than I guess I would—"_

_Comprehension, realization, the joy at realization, and the horror at its meaning all converged upon Naruto at once, "No…if you're really that demon, then…how did you…? N-n-no…n-no…that's—the Fourth—he wouldn't have—it can't be! How?"_

_**You know very well 'how', Naruto-kun**__, the voice replied, something like pity in its tone. It continued on, __**You read the Forbidden Scroll many times over. You have seen the incredible fuuinjutsu created by the Hokage's of Konoha…what would stop the greatest of them from devising one such jutsu powerful enough to imprison a creature such as myself? If your memory is correct, then I believe the jutsu your 'Fourth' used is in that scroll. You saw it yourself.**_

_The grief…the revulsion…it was all too much. Naruto was in such shock that he almost didn't notice the darkness fade away, revealing his body and a massive cage. Within the cage was housed the massive presence of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, scourge of humanity…and cause for one small boy's lifetime of suffering._

_

* * *

_

_The Kyuubi glanced down sadly at the child sobbing into the sewer stream next to his prison, his tiny body heaving with sorrow. It might have used this lapse in his mind to take over; but alas, its energy was all but gone._

_It shifted a bruised and matted claw under its great chin and rested upon it, sighing contentedly at the momentary reprieve from resting its head on the hard floor. Despite shifting its attention, it was not surprised at the sudden outburst that erupted from outside the cage, "WHY? YOU...__**DEMON**__! I __**HATE YOU**__! WHY DID YOU COME TO KONOHA…ANSWER ME YOU DE—"_

_**You have certainly learned a great deal from those villagers, Naruto-kun**__, it replied calmly, its deep bass voice resonating throughout the mindscape. __**Particularly**__, it continued,__** name-calling.**_

_It lazily turned a massive red eye upon the child, tiredly studying his furious countenance. Naruto had regained his body and it was quite strange to look upon. Whereas he would have appeared as his physical self in normal conditions, his fury was perverting and contorting it into strange shapes and hues. Violent blue chakra whipped around him in all directions, occasionally scorching one of the gigantic bars of the prison. _

_Its last comment did not ameliorate the situation. Instead, it caused the boy to shoot a ferocious glare, prompting the blue chakra to lash out at it._

_As expected, the seal dissipated the chakra tendril in moments. The Kyuubi allowed a very Kitsune-worthy grin to spread across its face, __**Have I upset you, Naruto-kun?**_

"_DON'T CALL ME THAT, DEM—"_

_**Again with that demeaning word. Are you such a hypocrite that you would insult others with the same idiotic sound bytes as what you have been called your entire life?**_

"_THEY CALLED ME THAT BECAUSE OF __**YOU**__!"_

_Quietly, the Kyuubi replied, __**I did not choose to be imprisoned within you.**_

_Petulant and hopeless tears began trickling down Naruto's face, as his once wrathful tone began dissipating into sobs, "B-but you…you w-were the one who attacked Konoha! The Fourth had no c-choice? Why d-did you attack? WHY?"_

_Another sigh escaped from its mouth, __**You will not like the answer to that question—**_

"_TRY ME!"_

_**Very well. The reason that I attacked Konoha was that 'I' am not an 'I'. I have no self. I am force of nature only given awareness at this moment by your own human consciousness. It does not mean 'I' am what you would call a 'dumb beast'…it merely means that 'I' act as a tornado or a hurricane would. Nothing more than a natural phenomenon.**_

_The Kyuubi frowned upon seeing the disbelieving expression on Naruto's face and sighed when it heard Naruto's response, "That's…that's it? _That's _the reason you slaughtered hundreds of innocent civilians and ruined my entire life…'you just do'? Do what? Destroy things, kill and maim creatures…?"_

_**If they cross 'my' path, yes. But so do many other things. Do you curse a forest fire for burning down a house?**_

_"Of course not. We curse its source and look to prevent it from occurring."_

_**Ah, but what if the forest fire has no source? What if the fire suddenly sprang up due to a lightning strike upon a tree? How do you prevent it from spreading destruction and mayhem through the forest?**_

_The boy's ever-shifting form suddenly focused into his usual self as confusion and curiosity settled across his face, "I suppose you could cut…down…trees—no, that would be ending life! What, is that your nature? Is that what you do? You end life so it doesn't spread across too wide an area?"_

_ It smiled ruefully, __**Perhaps. 'I' cannot say, for unlike the forest fire, 'we' bijuu have no idea what or who our lightning strike—our source—was. 'We' merely did as our instincts told us. Of course, the nine of 'us' were as one mind, moving throughout the land wherever 'our' instincts took 'us'. That is why 'I' am not an 'I', but a part of a whole…of the bijuu…of nature. Perhaps the bijuu are the result of an explosion of chakra originating from the evolution of humanity; or, perhaps the bijuu are the collected rage and hatred of humanity that has built up over the years as you war with one another and fight to kill those whom you call 'evil'. Whatever the case, 'I' did not attack Konoha because of some desire to see your people bleed and die. 'I' was merely following my nature.**_

_It let out a soft breath as its body protested the effort required to speak. Never before had weakness been so familiar._

_ "Then…my life, the way it's happened, has all been…_coincidence_? All that pain and suffering…nothing's to blame? I suffered just…_because_? That's not fair! Why—"_

_**My dear Naruto-kun, it is pain and suffering that spur evolution and change. Without it, creatures would have no reason to adapt and would never improve. While 'I' have no idea whether or not your circumstance was the result of divine will, 'I' do know that you are meant to adapt to it and become the stronger for it. And now…you'll be able to get off to a wonderful start.**_

_It closed its eyes peacefully upon seeing the bars begin to fade away. The boy seemed to notice this as well, for he asked, fear easily evident in his small voice, "W-what do you mean?"_

_**The woman who brought you here must have taken you to a fuuinjutsu expert. They are undoing your seal.**_

_The boy's voice became panicked, "Why would they do that?"_

_**Always you ask 'why'. I suppose they are hoping my energy will flood your system with a force great enough to heal your injuries. Of course, they're hoping I've become too weak to resist your will. **__It spread its mouth to reveal gleaming white canines, __**Shall we test that theory? **_

_"W-w-wait—"_

_**There is no more waiting, Naruto-kun. This moment can be your first step towards becoming stronger through suffering…or it can lead to your utter demise.**_

_At first, as the prison bars completely faded away, fear was the dominant feeling in Naruto's eyes. But suddenly, the Kyuubi saw determination, forged from a lifetime of rejection, glow from within him, spreading throughout his entire body with invisible, yet tangible power. _

_ In a calm voice, the boy asked, "I'll die if you take control…what'll happen if _I _win? Will I get all of your power?"_

_**You are quite greedy, my dear boy**__, it said, grinning with all of the joy of a true Kitsune, __**but no, as you probably expected, my power is too great for your body to hold all at once. Besides, it will all disappear in the effort to heal your body. It—my essence—will probably return to the Abyss beyond life…one that I have visited temporarily when my past Jinchuriki's died.**_

_ "Then what _will _happen," he asked impatiently, his body quivering in anticipation as it set its tired and battered body on it haunches in preparation for a lunge._

_ It's eyes twinkling with wistful mischief, the Kyuubi replied, __**Let us find out together, Naruto-kun.**_

_Grinning with primal euphoria, the Kyuubi pounced upon Naruto, but not before giving him a moment to comprehend what he was about to go through. It was all the boy needed. He leapt up to meet the Kyuubi and with that, the two collided into one another, their bodies, so different in size and shape, meeting together as one and erupting in a burst of tumultuous energy…and then all was still._

_ The small body of a child lay still upon the grimy sewer ground, its form slowly fading to the outside world. Around it, the sewers lay bare and desolate of anything save for the gentle trickling of water and a small red hair, floating in the water. After of a moment, the hair disappeared entirely, leaving no evidence that it had existed at all. The Kyuubi was gone._

_

* * *

_

**A/N**: I've decided to split Chapter Three, which was going to be massive and time-consuming, into two smaller chapters. As a result, the story will start picking up in the _fifth _chapter. Sorry about this, but there would have been too many emotionally significant events for readers to absorb and, subsequently, it wouldn't be enjoyable to read. Since the last update, I've written down and thought up a lot of other ideas, so the next chapter should be up soon. Sorry I've kept you waiting so long.

Concerning Kyuubi's personality (which most of you probably consider OOC), I've always liked how the gods in _Princess Mononoke_ were presented as wise and weary of the world and the defilement it is enduring at the hands of humanity. I wanted to apply this to the Kyuubi to add a different twist to its personality (notice how I never state its gender). Let me know what you think of this and of my interpretations of Konan and Pain (e.g. is Konan too emotional or attached?)

Hope you enjoy it,

Oramo


	4. Rebirth Part II

**A/N**: Thanks for all the reviews. It's helping out a lot. I've been reading them and some of you have brought up the fact that I didn't mention what Sasuke and Sakura's reaction was. This will occur within this chapter, as I intended it to from the beginning. Also, a few of you suggested I make this a Sakura/Sasuke bashing story. I mean no offense, but I really don't like stories of that nature. Though I may make some characters OOC in my story, none of them are as OOC as Sasuke and Sakura would have to be to pull off a bashing story. Besides, I find bashing stories uncreative and self-indulgent. It is true that we would all like to see Naruto show everybody up and surpass everyone's prior expectations of him (Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi especially) but _none_ of them would ever wish real harm upon the other (not even Sasuke…I think). They love each other as friends and comrades…so no bashing in this story.

Also, there were some of you who suggested the Kyuubi be a father figure to Naruto or, in response to my statement about the Kyuubi's lack of stated gender, a possible lover of Naruto's. I think I might have given the wrong impression. You'll see what I mean soon. Naruto will get a Kekkei Genkai and it will most _definitely _not be super-powerful or anything similar to that; but it is a new twist on things that I think a lot of you will like. And for those of you who liked my portrayal of the Kyuubi and its addition to the story, you can rest assured that the Kyuubi will definitely play a part in the events to come. A preemptive (and hopeful) thanks for your patience. This is going to be an insanely long chapter (thanks for the patience…again?)

So without further ado (or rambling) I present the much longer Part 2 of "Rebirth".

'thoughts'

"talking"

_Thoughts/memories_

_Rebirth, Part II_

The first thing Naruto noticed when he awoke was a single, thick thread of light flowing through the air in front of him like a river. His initial delirium prevented him from making any logical conclusion as to why such a thing existed. After several moments of gaping, Naruto blinked his eyes, saw that the light was still there, and finally glanced around the area in search for someone who could explain the phenomena. To his dismay, he found similar tendrils flowing and twirling all over the room.

Naruto turned away in pain, his hands clasped shut over his eyes. He couldn't look at them all at once…their motion, dizzying swirls that sped across the room, flooded his vision. Their energy and fluidity captured his eyes and turned them painfully within his head. He wanted to scream in fury at his helplessness. Yet, they did not appear to want to hurt him, for they wrapped around his tired limbs with the warmth of a mother. Suddenly, Naruto felt human arms, their flesh tender and caring, wrap around his trembling form. Gentle hands pried his own away from his eyes. Fearfully, he unveiled them. Immediately upon disclosing his azure orbs to the world, a body of streams bombarded his vision, radiating with painful brilliance.

They were…beautiful. Pure and simple beauty. There was no word nor symbol that Naruto knew to describe it with. The light hurt—oh how it pained him to gaze upon their liquid—but he did not think he could bear closing himself off from their grace.

Without warning, a figure emerged from within the swirls directly in front of him. A woman with blue hair it was…or perhaps golden. He couldn't tell and he didn't care; whoever she was, her splendor shone down upon him with intensity equivalent to that of the swirls—an angel of heaven sent down to guide him though the chaos of the swirls that were slowly becoming part of his reality.

"Naruto…"

His name—he heard his name. Barely a whisper though it was, Naruto heard it. It was the woman, he realized, for she spoke again, this time louder, "Naruto."

Another voice, deep and charismatic, spoke from behind the angel, "Tell him to push chakra out of his eyes."

The women looked at him intently, worry written on her face. For some reason, this disturbed him, as if such a high degree of emotion was not supposed to be on her visage. Her swirls twirled frantically as she asked, "Did you hear that Naruto? Push the chakra out of your eyes. Push!"

Naruto cocked his head, mildly curious as to why she would want him to do this. Such a thing might cause the swirls to disappear. That…that would be horrible! They accentuated every color, brightened every shadow…everything around exuded a vibrancy and vivacity that he could _taste _on the tip of his tongue like a sweet nectar dripping slowly from a glistening beehive.

But beyond that, the swirls enveloped him in emotions and feelings—they cared for him unconditionally and were his friends. Happiness and love reverberated throughout his essence every time they flowed across his skin.

As the expression on the woman's face grew more fearful, however, so to did the feelings emitted by the swirls. Now terror began to dominate his mind, casting away his joy like a dry leaf in the wind.

Naruto felt panic oozing its way through his gut up to this mind. No, he wouldn't let it take hold of him!

Focusing with all of his might, Naruto, his eyes pinched shut in concentration, slowly began pulling the chakra out of eyes. The effect on said orbs was immediate. He felt as if a great weight had suddenly been removed from them. Happiness akin to that of the swirls washed away his fear…until he opened his eyes.

Everything was a blur: colors, objects, the woman (who he now had the awareness to realize was Konan)…everything. For one fearful second, he thought his vision was ruined permanently; but then a soft touch pressed his eyelids shut and rubbed them. When he opened them again, the blurriness had faded to an acceptable level.

"Are you all right Naruto," Konan asked, her voice still filled with that unnatural concern.

He blinked at her many, many times until her image started to clear up before responding, "I… think so."

Compassion radiating out of her eyes, if not her face, Konan allowed a small smile to grace her normally guarded and expressionless visage. Before he could say anything further, however, the male voice that he had heard earlier spoke again, "Greetings, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto started and looked around for the voice's source. His now swiftly recovering eyes rested upon a tall man garbed in a black cloak with red clouds. The man was quite eccentric looking, with untamed orange hair roaring out of his head like fire and innumerable piercings protruding from all across his face. From what he could see, the man's eyes consisted of six silver ringlets in the place of the sclera and irises that echoed away from dark pupils. If this was the case, it would easily trump his other oddities. However, despite his unnatural appearance, the man's demeanor was a calm pond amidst Naruto's still raging storm of emotions. But, as Naruto felt his heart rate fade towards normality and the ringing his head die down, his emotions, once a tempest of frenetic energy and chaos, seemed to be growing fainter. It was if there was an infinitesimal leak within his consciousness that was slowly sucking all of the panic and fear-induced muck out of his mind.

In a sudden fit of realization, Naruto realized he had ignored the man's greeting. This was emphasized when the man asked, "How are you feeling?"

Naruto nervously replied, "Um…I—I'm not sure. I mean, all of those swirls…it was really weird; but now that I think about it, the Kyuubi did say that I'd—"

Naruto 's eyes widened as horror drew his face into a pale and sickly gape. He shrank back nervously from the man's emotionless gaze and looked to Konan, only to find her staring at him with what appeared to be sorrow.

_Oh shit! Dammit, what was I thinking? They'll force me to leave, or kill me, or—_

"So you were able to communicate with the Kyuubi," the man stated suddenly, "that is quite intriguing. Do you recall what you talked about?"

Naruto stared at him in disbelief, "Aren't—aren't you a little hung up on the fact the _Kyuubi is inside of me?_"

The man's unreal eyes bored into his own, "No. When Konan brought you to me, your seal was prominently displayed upon your stomach due to the Kyuubi's attempts at healing you. It was obvious that you were a Jinchuriki. Also, from Konan's description of your abnormalities, it was easy to deduce which bijuu you housed.

Naruto stared at him, mouth ajar in disbelief, "…Huh?"

The man glanced at Konan, one eyebrow slightly raised. Konan, in turn, responded, a small frown evident on her face, "He knows not of what you speak, Pain."

Naruto watched as the man, apparently named Pain, frowned beneath the high collar of his cloak. He replied dismissively, "It matters not. He is useless to us now, despite my hope for the contrary. Konan, we will have—"

"What do you mean 'useless'?"

He was indignant, angry, stunned—all thoughts of fear and doubt violently burned out of him with familiar indignation. Why would this man, this Pain, have need of _him_ and then have the unmitigated gall to call him useless to his face? The question bugged at the back of his mind, only exacerbated by the resent he felt at having his worth questioned.

He watched, a snarl marring his face, as Pain looked to Konan. She nodded, then turned to Naruto and said kindly, "Naruto, you should count yourself fortunate that you're still in the world of the living, let alone awake and energized enough to become enraged. Your body is still fragile after its ordeal." She raised up a hand when he opened his mouth to protest, "I will not allow you to destroy what little health you have gained by engaging in a futile and unnecessary argument. Sleep."

Everything about Konan, from her expressionless face to her resolute, yet blank eyes, suggested that she expected absolute obedience. Naruto gritted his teeth. He had a feeling he didn't have a choice.

With the reluctance of a hummingbird, Naruto allowed his body to be still and fall back onto the wonderfully soft and comforting pillows resting beneath him.

"Good," he heard her say, "we'll wake you in a few hours to discuss several things that need addressed. Sleep peacefully."

Deep underneath her indifference, Naruto could hear the care she had showed him earlier and the comfort and warmth it gave him led him to his dreams with the swiftness and pleasure of a heavenly chariot. The questions that had split his head from the moment he had awoken from the lair of the Kyuubi all crumbled to dust…and he slept as peacefully as Konan had wished him to.

* * *

The gentle tumbling of sheaves of paper, ancient and wrinkled, pulled back the dark veils of sleep from Naruto's heavy eyes. A small stream of light, bright to his darkened pupils, greeted him by sending sharp contractions throughout his eyes. He squinted and blinked until he adjusted to its glow and then suddenly made out the rough silhouette of a figure bent over what he recognized to be one of the desks in his room. From what he could see, dozens upon dozens of scrolls were laid out before the person, bearing forth information of apparently vital importance and all containing numerous symbols and seals with ink the color of blackest night.

"Did you sleep well," asked Pain in his enigmatic voice.

Naruto nodded, then responded, all of the grogginess of the first waking moment of the day easily evident within his voice, "How long have I been out?"

"Approximately ten hours," the orange-haired man responded mechanically, his gaze never leaving the scrolls.

"Huh."

Pain made no attempt to continue the conversation and Naruto was getting uncomfortable with the silence, so he asked, "What are you reading?"

As emotionlessly as ever, Pain replied, "The different effects of seals and bijuu on human beings."

This piqued Naruto's interest, "Why?"

Paper rustled once more as Pain neatly placed the scroll he had been reading off to his right and picked up another scroll from a pile to his left. He then looked at Naruto and, his strange eyes examining every aspect of his being, said, "I desire to understand what effects the Kyuubi's chakra has had upon you. Such a large influx of chakra, demonic chakra no less, is bound to have initiated some change within your body. This hypothesis was validated when you first awoke."

Naruto cocked his head in confusion, "How so?"

"Your eyes, normally blue from what Konan tells me, were the color of blood."

He gaped piteously at Pain, "W-what?"

Pain gave a brisk nod, "It is true. The reason or effects of this are unknown to me, however. But, I do recall you mentioning something when you first opened your eyes. I believe they were—"

"—swirls," he finished quietly, memories of the streams of light vividly pictured in his mind. Had they been a product of the effect of the Kyuubi's chakra on him?

Resting his chin upon his fist, he focused his mind on recalling everything that had occurred during that moment.

_Let's see…the swirls reacted to my emotions—no, they reacted to both my emotions _and _Konan's. Since she wasn't affected by the Kyuubi that can only mean the swirls existed before my confrontation with the Kyuubi. Does that mean that the after-effect is the ability to see these streams? That is…strange._

Dismay filled him. He could not deny that he had been hoping for a powerful ability from such a mighty creature. But then again, he had not experimented with this gift. He would be a fool to disregard it after only one "test". It might prove incredibly useful to him. How could it not? He could sense and immerse himself in the emotions of Konan; and, by inference, he could do so with his enemies, possibly predicting their moves or inclinations before they actually followed through with them.

"What are you thinking about?"

Naruto started at Pain's clear voice and hastily responded, "T-the swirls."

Quickly, Pain asked, "Do you have any ideas about what they are?"

He hesitated, feeling a strange itch in the back of his head, as if he were forgetting something. Upon staring into Pain's intent, yet blank face, it came to him. This was the decisive question he had wondered about ere he should go any further: Should he trust this man? Konan seemed to and from what he had experienced with her during the time together, he felt she was trustworthy and kind.

But at the same time, how could he know they wouldn't betray him like—he repressed the cold feeling in the pit of his stomach—_they _had? The focus and determination both of them showed, coupled by their unknown need for the bijuu, frightened him. What would stop them from using him, then casting him aside like a broken puppet?

On the other hand, he couldn't do anything alone. His goal in life…that was gone. Though he could not even imagine such a thought without tears springing to his eyes (which they did instantly), it was a fact that he had no power to change. At the best, he had been declared MIA, for neither of his teammates had seen his demise; but the circumstances in which they had left him would have easily been enough to have him listed as dead. As such, he would be placed on that stone, his rank nullified, and any hopes at becoming Hokage made void. Why not join them? He could do little else. At the very least, they could help him learn about the swirls.

His thoughts ordered to his liking, Naruto replied, "Yeah, I think so."

"What," Pain inquired.

"I think…I think they exist on their own. I mean, whatever the effect on my body is allows me to see them, not create them."

"What has led you to this conclusion?"

"When Konan…held me, they reacted to her emotions same as mine. The difference between I and her is that I can see the—"

"—'me and her' is the correct grammatical form, I believe," Pain interrupted calmly. He glanced up from the scrolls and, seeing Naruto's disbelieving face, said, "Go on."

"Whatever," Naruto replied, shaking his head, "I was going to say that the difference between _her and I _is that I saw and, I guess, "felt" the swirls. They kinda seemed to be attracted to me. Beyond that…" he shrugged, his knowledge on the matter blank.

Pain stared at him unblinkingly, causing Naruto to shift uncomfortably in his bed. After a moment or so of silence, the orange-haired nin responded, "That is a very interesting thought. However," he picked up one of the scrolls lying to his right and turned fully towards Naruto, "a piece of information has just come to my attention that supersedes the nature of the swirls. I desire to figure out the means of your relationship with the Kyuubi."

His left eyebrow cocked quizzically, Naruto queried, "What do you mean 'relationship'?"

"What I mean," Pain responded, "is whether or not your connection with the Kyuubi still exists now that it is no longer within you—"

"WHAT?"

Pain stared at Naruto as if he were a particularly disgusting piece of vermin, "The Kyuubi is no longer within you, yes, but that is not—"

"—B-but how? What happened to it?"

"Why does this bother you?"

The rush of confusion that had overwhelmed Naruto upon hearing of the Kyuubi's absence suddenly halted. Why did he care? The beast had ever only caused him pain. It was without a doubt the reason the villagers treated him so poorly. He should be ecstatic that he was rid of such a being. But at the same time, he couldn't help feeling a perverted sort of attachment to it. The Kyuubi had been the closest living thing to him throughout his entire life…literally. It had healed him during his beating by the villagers and the only reason he was here today was because of its incredible power.

"Perhaps…perhaps I'm grateful to it," Naruto finally responded, his right index finger twirling and crushing the fabric of his bed sheets. "I mean, it saved me from _death_. No matter what it did in the past, I'd be—what's that word—'remiss' if I didn't feel something for it, you know? Besides, it's been inside of me my whole life and, even though I never knew it, I feel weird that that one constant is gone.

"But then again, it was the cause for my suffering. I'm pretty sure the villagers wouldn't have treated me like they did if it hadn't been inside of me. Honestly, I—I don't know how I feel about this. What am I _supposed _to feel towards the creature that has been both the bane of my existence _and_ my savior?"

Pain was silent for several moments, his eyes, though staring at Naruto, glazed over in thought. He finally said, "Naruto, you are not 'supposed' to feel anything other than what you feel. How you feel is strictly up to you. You might be correct in thinking that you should be grateful, but if you are not…then you are not. Nothing more, nothing less. These things you will have to work out on your own and it will be a trying process, to say the least. Through this suffering, however, you will become stronger—"

"—That's what the Kyuubi said to me," Naruto suddenly exclaimed his left arm flailing wildly as he expostulated his thought. "It said something about evolution and how pain spurs…spurs—does it make sense to say something 'spurs' something else?"

The corners around Pains eyes seemed to crinkle ever so slightly as if in a smile, "Yes, it does and it does not surprise me that the Kyuubi said that. Change is at the very core of nature and the Kyuubi is a part of nature. Imagining it understanding the essence of change is not hard at all."

"Huh…hey, what do you mean 'is'? You make it sound as if the Kyuubi's still—it's not free is it?"

Again, the ghost of a smile seemed to appear on Pain's face, "How quickly your gratitude has left you. To assuage your fears, the Kyuubi is not free. It has left the living world as a result of losing a battle of wills…with you."

Naruto cocked his head in confusion, "So it's dead?"

The pierced man shook his head slowly, "Not entirely. According to historical records of past Jinchuriki—namely, Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi—"

"The Kyuubi's had other Jinchuriki? But how is that possible? The Five Great Shinobi villages have only been around for around sixty years and only one jutsu has come from there that's been able to contain the Kyuubi. It's not called the most powerful of the Bijuu for nothing."

"You are correct Naruto, but you are also wrong. The Bijuu have been around for as long as humanity has started keeping records and the art of being a shinobi has been around for nearly the same length of time. Some have hypothesized that shinobi were originally developed to combat the Bijuu. In any case, ninja clans existed for many centuries before the Villages today were formed and all of them engaged in unregulated and morally uninhibited experiments to seal away the power of the demons…and possibly use it to eliminate their rivals. The result was the creation of the Jinchuriki. All of the Bijuu have had numerous containers over the course of history; but you are correct to be skeptical of pre-Village shinobi finding a way to seal away the mighty Kyuubi."

Pain paused to let the boy absorb the information. For his part, Naruto grunted impatiently, his mind bursting with new thoughts and ideas on Pain's story. The stoic nin nodded and continued, "To my knowledge, and the knowledge of nearly every shinobi historian in the Five Nations, there have been three recorded incidents of Kyuubi Jinchuriki. One of them was you. The other two lived within several decades of each other. These two Jinchuriki led lives of hardship and rejection to your own, jading and embittering them against the world. One of them even attacked her own clan before becoming a missing-nin. How the Kyuubi was sealed within these two is lost forever to history. Their clans were obviously very secretive about such knowledge and any written records of the jutsu were probably hidden or destroyed. Fortunately, the attributes and abilities they exhibited as a result of the Kyuubi were recorded. All of them were exactly the same as yours."

Naruto sighed in exasperation, "So? Of course their abilities would be similar. What does that have to do—"

"Another trait that was shared between them was that they both died."

"…Heh?"

With the same directness and indifference with which he had been speaking the entire time, Pain said, "Both of them died at different times with the Kyuubi still inside of them…and the Kyuubi came back _both_ times. From this data, it is safe to assume that the Kyuubi does not die; or rather, it does not remain absent from the world of the living permanently."

Naruto shook his head in bewilderment, "But that's impossible. Things, no matter how powerful or 'natural' they are, don't just avoid death. Death itself is a part of nature. To cheat it would be, for lack of a better word, 'unnatural'."

"Ah, but is it not also natural to live? While the details are far beyond my understanding at this point, I imagine that the Kyuubi—all of the Bijuu for that matter—die and then reenter the cycle of life. One might compare them to matter. Matter can be manipulated and changed into an infinite number of shapes, sizes, and variations, but it can never be destroyed. Similarly, the Bijuu might enter death, but get pulled back into life in the same way matter changes into a different form."

"That's a _little _confusing, wouldn't you say?"

Pain nodded wearily, revealing a hint of humanity, "Very. But in the end it is irrelevant. The point is that they do return to life. How else could they have so many Jinchuriki? Besides, of course, someone figuring out how to release the Bijuu. That is a very rare incident."

"You did it."

"But I have a dedication only created under the most unusual and terrible conditions. Such devotion is not seen often."

Nodding slowly in agreement, Naruto responded, "Okay, I get the gist of what you're saying, except for the devotion part; but how does the 'immortality' of the Bijuu apply to what you're doing? I'm guessing the other Bijuu have had loads of other Jinchuriki, so it would be easier to find out how often they 'return' to life. But the Kyuubi's only had three. How can you develop a pattern based on that? What if there is no pattern and they reappear randomly? In either case, it could be hundreds of years before the Kyuubi comes back!"

"I agree, which is why I am not interested in trying to predict when dead Bijuu will return. Instead I am focused on the manner in which they return."

"But you just said—"

"I said it doesn't matter _how_ they are able to return. What matters is the mechanism they use to return. How the Bijuu are able to use the mechanism or why they are able to use it is of no concern to. So long as they are able to use it, then humans have the possibility to use it as well."

Naruto shifted uneasily in the bed, "What do you mean?"

"The fact that the Bijuu can traverse worlds implies that there is a link between the world of the living and whatever world there is after we die. Perhaps this world only exists for the Bijuu. Perhaps there is no world for humans. Again, such things are not my concern at the moment. The important thing is that there has to be a link and if we could use it to draw the restless energy of the Kyuubi back, then our problem would be solved."

"That's a nice thought…but how would you do that?"

Pain turned back towards his desk and spread out the scroll so that its contents were clear, "Naruto, do you know why I released the Kyuubi?"

He scratched the back of his head, "Well, the Kyuubi said it would flood my body with its energy and heal me. I'm happy you did that obviously; but now that I think about it, wouldn't that mess up your plans? Why did you save me when you knew the only result would be the Kyuubi's death?"

"The Kyuubi was going to die anyway," Pain replied, the gravity of his statement contrasted by the casual apathy in his voice. "It took all of its massive energy to keep your small body from dying instantly. Not even the mightiest of the Bijuu can totally forestall the effects of a enormous explosion upon the human body. Your limbs should have been blown off, your skin charred and melted, your organs—I apologize," he said abruptly, seeing the pale expression on Naruto's face, "I merely wished to convey the sheer difficulty of keeping a human being—a child, no less—alive after being in the middle of a torrent of fire. Besides, no human can survive who doesn't want to."

Pain glanced at him for an instant before continuing, "Nevertheless, the Kyuubi would have died whether or not I saved you. At first, I was horribly dismayed, for we need all of the Bijuu to realize our dream. But my studies on this link of the Bijuu soon came to me and I pondered what the effects of a Jinchuriki surviving a Bijuu dying within them would be. Your case would be the perfect test. The Kyuubi was incredibly weakened from its efforts, so I had some confidence that you could withstand its will when it came at you, something all Bijuu seem to do upon being released from their prison. If you did, I was sure they would be some effect. When the essence of two beings clash, they tend to absorb bits of each other, especially in the winner's case. You were able to push the Kyuubi back, if not overwhelm it, and the energy raging throughout you seems to have had some effect upon your body…perhaps even your genome. While this would be quite interesting to test, I desire to know if you possess the greatest ability of the Bijuu known to humanity."

"You want to know if I possess a connection to the afterlife of the Bijuu…don't you?"

"I do. If you possess such a thing, you might be able to call the Kyuubi forth and bring it to the world of the living, thus allowing us to fulfill our dream."

"How?"

Pain stared at him curiously, "There are many possible answers to such a question, mainly because I do not know which 'how' you mean to ask."

Naruto gritted his teeth, "_How_ would you find out if I have the link or not?"

A moment of silence and then, "I have no idea."

"…Oh. That might be a problem."

"Indeed," Pain agreed, his gaze fixed off in the distance. "There is no recorded condition even remotely similar to what you experienced. There is no mention of 'swirls' or of the link that I hypothesize exists."

Naruto looked down at his covered legs. He had decided to help Pain, mainly because Konan trusted him and partly because he had no one else to turn to. The hurt of his rejection could be forestalled if he threw himself into accomplishing Pain and Konan's dream. However, if their dream turned out to be impossible—

_I can't allow myself to think about it right now. Konan, Pain…both risked their dream to save me, plain and simple. I have to help them; otherwise, I might get lost in my own sorrow…_

"Pain," Naruto burst out suddenly, "I'll do whatever I can to help you!"

The man in question raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And why would you do that?"

Naruto's voice shook with emotion as he answered, "Y-you two…you nearly destroyed all hope for your dream to save me. The technicalities aren't important. All I care about is that _you _care enough about my life to…to—"

"Thank you Naruto," Pain interjected, Naruto's trembling voice a dangerous indication of tears, "but I don't think you understand what I will require of you. Before you pledge any loyalty to Konan or I, you must know what you might have to do for me."

"I'll do it. Whatever it takes, I'll do it!"

"Then you are prepared to kill Konoha nin?"

The righteousness, the certainty, all that had pushed Naruto to commit himself fully to Pain's cause, vanished like a puff of smoke in a thunderstorm, "W-w-what?"

"Naruto," Pain began, sighing gently as he did so, "my dream requires many things to happen. One of them is to protect the land I control from invaders and warmongers. Ame has long been the center of the wars between the Great Nations and while the current leader of Amegakure has done an admirable job of creating and enforcing security in the region, my plans call for him to be…removed soon. If and when that happens, I might need to take drastic measures to prevent other nations from learning of our goal. This, in turn, might include the removal of foreign shinobi spies."

"Spies of Konoha, for instance," Naruto suggested, his voice blank at the gravity of the statement.

"Yes."

"Pain," Naruto asked abruptly, his voice suddenly as quiet and timid as his age, "w-why do you need to keep your dream a secret?"

The nin answered without hesitation, "The Five Great Villages would not want my dream to come to fruition. In fact," he smirked for a moment, "they would do everything in their power to prevent it."

"Why?"

The strange and enigmatic eyes of Pain stared into Naruto; not into his own eyes or face, but into his very _being_.

"My dream, Naruto," Pain replied finally, "is to destroy the shinobi way of life and replace it with a fairer and more peaceful one. To do so, I will have to destroy the Five Shinobi Nations…and the Villages that guard them."

The fear and horror that had so thoroughly dominated Naruto's mind—that were exuded from his every pore at the thought of what Pain would do—suddenly disappeared as quickly as his drive to fulfill Pain's dream had. The magnitude of the violence Pain had just suggested was so great that it meant only words to him. Nothing was left inside of him at the idea of the sheer terror that would be caused by the destruction of the Five Great Villages.

_Everywhere I turn there is violence…people fighting for causes, certain that their own beliefs are the true and right reasons to kill. This man is no different…_but_, where all others fight for survival or power to protect themselves and those things or people that they love, he wishes to fight for the happiness of _all _people. His dream is for a world where people don't have to die needlessly, where dreams can be accomplished without doubt or fear, where hatred and rage fade away and love is burning spark within everyone…a world where friends don't have to betray one another. There is nothing better to fight for. Of course, _everyone_ thinks the same thing about their own dream. Fine, then I won't fight because I believe my dream is the best. I'll train, I'll fight, I'll kill, I'll _die _so that no one in the world ever has to endure suffering like mine. Through my misery and the misery of all who have suffered, I will find the power to fulfill Konan and Pain's dream._

"Naruto," Pain's voice shattered his thoughts like a gust of wind would a spider's web, "do you still desire to aid me, to commit your very soul to our cause? I can have nothing less."

With a calmness and determination Naruto had never before known, he replied, his eyes still gazing into his scrunched up fists, "Pain, I pledge my soul and more to your cause. So long as I live," he stared up at his savior, "I will do everything in my power to help you."

A grin, much like the one he used to give to Sakura, suddenly spread across Naruto's face, "Believe it…"

* * *

Red light, as captivating as a ripe peach, illuminated the city of Konoha with unparalleled joy. The feelings of those beneath its kind gaze, however, could not have been any more different.

Uchiha Sasuke stood atop the roof of the Konoha Hospital, his bearing one of loneliness and burden despite the presence of Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi. The two children were heavily bandaged and seemed to just be beginning recovery from fatigue. Their sensei, despite bearing no injuries, looked just as weary and broken as his they did.

There was no knowing how long they had spent standing upon the newly furnished tiles wrapped in a veil of silence, their minds splintering and fracturing with pain and sorrow.

Sasuke liked it this way. It was the safest way. Every time he attempted a glance at either Sakura or Kakashi, despair threatened to engulf him in its endless depths. And the worst thing about the entire thing, the thing that plagued him as he set his head upon the stiff pillows of the hospital beds, was that it, all of it, could have been avoided had he not forced Naruto to follow him.

Gone had been the level-headed, efficient Sasuke that had led Team 7 on so many successful missions. In his place was a rampaging monster that could only see one thing: _Itachi!_ Not even the incalculable number of guards could halt his vengeance. It had been so simple at the time. Naruto's Kage Bunshin provided the perfect distraction for them to enter the guard tower, have Sasuke Henge them as guards, and then casually make their way over the wall. Within moments, the ANBU realized the rouse and gave chase, but the Kage Bunshin of Naruto, a jutsu none save Team 7, Iruka-sensei and the Hokage knew he could perform, prevented them from being found. By the time the ANBU realized they had captured clones, they were already long gone, their scents masked out with special nin-soap that only an Inuzuka could track. Of course, it had been an Inuzuka who found them after they retreated—

Stinging tears crawled out of his eyes and slowly dripped down his worn cheeks. Naruto…was gone. He had left his broken and burnt husk of a body, arm outstretched in a plea for help, to the villainous daggers of the Kumo.

More tears came as he venomously snapped, _Yes Sasuke, the 'villainous' daggers of the Kumo. Blame everyone but yourself!_

He shut his eyes and clenched his fists, the terrible fury threatening to take hold over him again. This time, however, he would have gladly let himself plunge a blade into his own heart. He deserved it. The moment he had been able to think clearly, the moment he had let himself feel after he miraculously dragged Sakura's limp form through the only forest in Kusa and into the hands of a Konoha rescue team, he had tried to blame Itachi. Oh how he _hated _himself for such irresponsibility! Such a thought prevented him from even looking at Sakura's hollow and empty face.

Surprisingly, he found himself talking to Kakashi more and more. His sensei seemed to be the only one who understood his suffering.

_I guess he's the only I can talk to_, he thought miserably. _I couldn't utter two words to Sakura without sobbing like a fool. She'll…she'll n-never forgive me. What have I done?_

Without warning, a light feeling, barely more than the faintest wind, rested within his right hand. At the same time, a gentle touch rested upon his left shoulder. He started at the feelings but froze immediately upon seeing their source.

There was Sakura's small and graceful hand wrapped comfortingly around his own worn one, her emerald eyes shimmering with tears and emotion. Kakashi had his own hand on Sasuke's shoulder, grasping it with a tenderness that the boy didn't think his sensei could exhibit.

"Sasuke," Sakura suddenly stated, her voice determined and clear despite the tears now beginning to run down her face, "we can't let ourselves drift apart. We'll never—never be able to m—mov—"

"Sakura's right, Sasuke," Kakashi cut in, kindly allowing Sakura to avoid saying what they all dreaded to hear, "we cannot deal with our grief alone. You are not alone. Not for your family's death, not for Naruto's, not for anything…we are here for you and we always will be."

Sasuke stared first at Kakashi and then, his heart leaping into his throat, into Sakura's wet face. A strange urge appeared out of nowhere within him and he uncertainly let go of Sakura's clinging hand and softly pulled her onto his shoulder. Sakura, her normally iron-clad will broken, melted into him. Love, hiding deep underneath his hate like a shadow beneath a rock baking underneath a desert sun, poured throughout his body. Seeing Kakashi and Sakura helping and loving _him_…it was too much. Tears, long overdue, freely rushed down his face. He made no sound as he buried his face in Sakura's radiant pink hair and Kakashi tightened his kind grasp on his shoulder.

As the magnificent red light of the sun faded into the horizon, a single thought, as pure and clear as the night that was soon to come, resounded throughout Sasuke's mind: _This pain—all of it—happened because I was too _weak_. Never again will I be weak. Never again will those that I love die because of my weakness. I will become strong for Sakura, Kakashi...and Naruto. And I'll do it at whatever cost._

_

* * *

_

"Too slow."

A kunai sliced through the droplets of rain resting on Naruto's skin and sunk deep into his flesh. He didn't notice. There were so many others like it marring his small body that he had almost become used to the stinging pain and warm, rain-soaked rivulets of blood running down his limbs.

More whizzing. Black objects, sharp with death, soared through the thundering rain. Naruto rolled sideways and into the river, using the weightlessness of the water to shield himself from the blades. It was to no avail. Kunai, travelling at unimaginable speeds, sailed through the water and sunk into his broken flesh. From the dull pangs that racked his body, he supposed that three had hit him. Naruto mechanically swam away, his tired muscles straining against the current.

It had been nearly three weeks since he had arrived in Ame with Konan and already he was enduring training—no, punishment like he had never before imagined. When Naruto pledged his undying service to Pain and Konan's cause, he has assumed he would be subjected to tests and experiments to find out whether or not he was connected to Pain's hypothetical link.

'_Hypothetical' being the operative word—GAH!_

A barrage of kunai and shuriken darted from every direction towards his body. Arms and legs flailing wildly, Naruto sped through the water and out onto the shore, at which time he promptly sprinted into the forest.

He slowed down after a few moments and ducked behind a tree, his breath coming out in heaves, "Oh…oh boy…not good…not good at all…"

Had he the energy, he would have screamed in frustration. What was he doing out here? Pain had told him they would be trying to find out what the effects on his body had been due to his exposure to the Kyuubi's chakra. Apparently, that involved Pain and Konan launching every weapon they had.

_That doesn't even come close to describing how many of those damnable things they throw. Where the _hell _do they get all of 'em anyway? I "train" for an entire day then return to the wonderfully dull cave so I can pass out for exhaustion. Where do they find the time—shit!_

Kunai, tags lined with red tied to their handles, landed with a thunk in the tree Naruto rested under. He dove away as the tree exploded above him, sending shards of bark all across the area. The only thing that protected him was a last minute Kawarimi with a nearby branch.

"I'm gonna die," Naruto muttered simply. "My life is over."

An indistinct figure, cloaked in both robe and shadow, suddenly appeared in the canopy of branches and leaves up above him. Naruto recognized it to be Konan when she spoke, "Do not forget the purpose of your training Naruto. We desire to test the limits of your gift—"

"—By trying to kill me?"

"Putting the body under severe stress is one of the most effective ways to unlock or test unknown abilities," she replied mechanically. "Now, pump chakra into your eyes and experiment."

"Oh yeah, let's test how many swirls I can see. In the meantime, you guys just keep on lobbing those kunai so _I can die!_"

He could almost see her roll her eyes through the shadow of the tree branches, despite her normally calm demeanor, "You complain too much. Be silent and do what is required of you."

Konan's tone brooked no argument. Grumbling under his breath, Naruto focused his chakra. It was a difficult task, especially considering his poor chakra control. He distinctly remembered Pain informing him of how his overabundance of chakra prevented him from engaging in subtler jutsu, such as a Bunshin. He could barely manage what he was doing now, even with the exercises Pain and Konan had given him.

Nevertheless, he the enigmatic swirls soon appeared before his eyes, dancing all across his vision with the frivolity of children at play.

_Okay, I can see pretty little light-thingy's. How…awesome? Ugh, what is the point? They just cover up and distort everything I see._

It was true. The swirls brightness and constant movement, combined with the slightly red tint his eyes gave to the area, made the very act of seeing as difficult as looking through a cloud of muddy water.

Suddenly, a group of the swirls bunched together and flung themselves towards him. He instinctively dodged them, marveling at their light as the past by him. He heard a kunai plant itself into the ground where he had been sitting just as the light hit the same spot.

_What? Wai—_

The swirls gathered together again, this time in many different places. In an instant, they shot towards Naruto with terrifying speed. Naruto gazed upon the frenetic spears of light in horror as they lunged at him with the ferocity and power of a hawk.

_I can't dodge that many. I'm—I'm going to die…I'M GOING TO DIE!_

He tried to leap out of the way, but a cracked branch, wet with mud and moss, tripped him and sent him into the ground. Nerves tingling with electric fear, Naruto attempted to roll out of the way…only to find his body stuck in the slowly enclosing vat of mud. He couldn't move. He was…done. The energy and adrenaline that were surging through his body disappeared entirely, leaving him with nothing but dead weight as he gazed upon the incoming projectiles.

From the corner of his eye he thought he could see Konan and Pain getting ready to perform jutsu. They were moving so _slow_.

_How quaint_, he thought mildly, shock emptying his thoughts of emotion, _they're trying to save me. Not that it will do any good. I suppose I'm going to die._

He had thought people were supposed to perform superhuman feats when facing death. He already had, he supposed. But none of that mattered anymore. His mask of determination and endurance, the fragile shield of hope that Konan and Pain had given him, had shattered and he could do nothing to mend it. Seeing those weapons of death sailing at him, imagining countless scenarios in the future like it, sapped him of all will to live and fight.

As he stood limply upon the ground, eyes gazing listlessly at the slowly churning swirls, Naruto felt something tug against his back. He ignored it. The kunai were now less than a foot from his face. He was finished; yet it didn't bother him. Why should it? What did he have to live for? Yes, he'd just let his body drift off towards the ground and free his soul to wander wherever life took him.

Naruto ceased all motion in his body, allowing it to fall to the ground. Yet while he was justifying his suicide, the tug at his back had become a pull with the strength of a current. It steadily grew in power as he released all control of his body. It grew and it grew, drawing up out of the mud and into the air.

_Wha—what's happening?_

He was holding himself up with his hands. How?

Then he noticed the swirls flowing tightly around his body, forming a layer of twirling light across his entire form.

A prick in his skin signified the arrival of the kunai. As if on some hidden signal, Naruto's body went into action. It launched itself up into the air, letting the kunai sail into the soil. More kunai came, their deadly points aimed straight for him. Yet Naruto's body spun and ducked around them with ease.

_This is incredible! Yes, yes, YES!_

Everything was a blur of light and pleasure as he reveled in his body's fluidity. The swirls flowing around the kunai only served to guide his actions as he easily whirled through them and onto the next one. For the first time in his life, Naruto experienced pure freedom. Here within the swirls loving motion, he could dance for eternity, avoiding the world's ills and hatreds and leaving behind all of his past sadness.

He spun around the last kunai, but did not stop moving, even after hearing its soft _plop _in the mud. Why stop? Why do _anything_? He was safe here. He was _happy_ here. What more could he need.

Others did not share this sentiment, however, for he soon felt the tug of two new swirl signatures sail through the air and land behind him. It mattered not. Simply more swirls to dance through.

One of the figures appeared quite worried, for the swirls danced frenetically around them. These same swirls moved towards him moments before the figure itself starting running in his direction. When they reached out an arm to stop him, Naruto joyfully flipped over the figure, landed, and continued dancing at inhuman speed. And then, with the abruptness of a mountain appearing over the horizon, he saw the link.

It was the most magnificent thing he had ever seen, yet it was probably the simplest as well. The link that Pain so ardently searched for was a simple, gigantic swirl of light. Or rather, it consisted of every swirl Naruto could see. The link was not a tunnel or a pathway. What Naruto saw—what he felt and knew to be true—was that the connection between the living world and whatever lay after was not a connection at all. The swirls _were _the afterlife. They danced and frolicked around life with the joy of children at play, waiting to join become a part of that which they celebrated so happily.

_Perhaps_, Naruto wondered, thinking clearly for the first time in his dancing, _everything becomes a part of the swirls…and then returns as some form of life! What if—what if the Bijuu are just physical incarnations of the swirls? What if…what if…_

He slowed down, his euphoria fading a bit. There was something about that figure that was familiar. Whatever it was, it distracted him from his thoughts, which were clearly of the utmost importance. Did he know her? Her? How did he know its gender? Perhaps it was the way it moved. It did walk in a manner that he was sure he'd seen before.

_How incredibly bothersome_, he thought, pouting as he continued to flow with the swirls, _I can't think of her name. Perhaps if I ask her—but that means I'll have to stop and I can't have tha—but why can't I? Why am I dancing in the first place? What is the point in all—Konan!_

The memories and feelings associated with her name shattered his revelry like a rock upon glass. The blur of swirls and ecstasy ceased immediately. The world slowed to a tedious pace and the radiant surroundings that had once thrilled became as dull and lifeless as the bare rock of the mountains towering hundreds of yards behind him.

He stood still for an instant, rain swiftly gliding down from the heavens and onto his body like the swirls in which he had once danced.

"Naruto!"

He turned towards the voice. A tall woman, wet blue hair splayed gracefully against her face, frantically looked him over for any hurt.

_Konan. How could I have gotten her so worked up?_

Sound and sensation hit his head like thunderclap, "AHHH!"

He felt blood pouring out of wounds, muscles aching with exhaustion, lungs heaving and pulling against gravity; he gasped for breath and violently lurched to the ground, emitting terrible coughs all the while.

A comforting arm wrapped around his shoulders and lifted him from the ground. The dark cloak of Konan's fabric drew him towards it with the allure of a fire at night. He buried his head in Konan's stomach without any regard to the consequences and allowed the warmth of her body to comfort him.

"Are you all right," he heard Konan ask, her voice muffled by the fabric around his ears.

He grunted in response, moaning in pleasure as she wrapped her arms around him, further shielding him from the cold of the rain.

"You were moving so fast," he heard her mutter. "I threw the kunai and you fell over a branch. You laid there until they were right next to you. Pain and I were about to intervene when…you became a blur. I've—I've never seen anything like it. How—Naruto?"

Konan's soft voice, usually cold and distant, carried him away from the worries of the outside world and into a sleep only a child's mind can conjure.

* * *

Naruto breathed deeply as the river in front of him rippled in the perpetual storms of Ame. A variety of blades, incalculable in number, lay scattered around him on the shore, their dark blades fading into the background as the mud swallowed them into its bowels.

His right arm, calloused and worn with some unknown labor, lazily lifted to his chest level, forearm cocked slightly inward with his fingers hanging limply in the air. Leaning back on his right foot, he raised his left arm out in front of him, hand straight as the kunai that surrounded his feet.

Whistling sounds pierced the air. Blades sailed towards him from everywhere—land, air, and water—and moved faster than the human eye could register.

A faint grimace formed on Naruto's face moments before the blades erupted from their hiding places…and then he became a blur of motion and grace. He guided his body through the hail of weapons with the finesse of weaver, every movement part of a fluid chain. He let his arm flow under a kunai through its swirls, while his upper body arched over three others bent on piercing his flesh. He then kicked legs upwards, flipped through the air, landed on one foot, and began another sequence of moves. All of it occurred within two seconds.

When the flurry of blades finally ceased and all that threatened to pelt his scrawny bare chest was the freezing rain, he allowed himself a deep sigh…and collapsed into the suddenly comforting mud beneath him.

"Ugh…" he groaned as he released the chakra from his eyes, their aching pain subsiding as the source of their strain vanished. Despite his current predicament, he wasn't in nearly as much pain as he had been three months ago when they discovered the Kyuubi's "present".

_Maybe that's why Pain calls himself Pain_, he mused tiredly. _It would make sense. He's seems quite content lobbing dangerous weapons at me for hours on end. Yes, let's test his theories on _my _body. Who cares if the adorable little eight-year old gets stuffed like a pincushion? It's not like said eight-year-old enjoys living!_

He groaned again as his thoughts turned towards angrier, more energy-consuming thoughts. There was no time for this. Pain would undoubtedly send more…"things" at him and he actually did desire to see the sunrise tomorrow. It was one of the few things that made waking up at dawn half-way bearable.

_I wonder what the obsession is with "waking at dawn" amongst mentors. Isn't the human body much more active and alert at night? Why not wake up later and train during the night? No difference in time really. 'Course, you'd sleep later and that would probably make you feel just as miserable waking up later as you would getting up at dawn. A mystery for another time I guess._

Sighing, Naruto reluctantly forced himself to get up. No, "reluctantly" was not the word Naruto would use to describe his feelings at pushing himself upwards so he could dodge kunai and shuriken. He supposed it would require several words and they'd fall somewhere along the lines of "I'd rather let _all _of my extremities—mold in the mud"; but it needed to be done. So, Naruto drew his forearms beside his chest, pushed said chest into the air, brought his legs directly underneath his shoulders, and heaved himself upwards into what a drunk would proudly proclaim to be a standing position.

He tried to glance down at his mud-covered stomach and pants (which he thought might have at one time been orange) in disgust, but he hadn't the effort. Using what little control he had, Naruto closed his eyelids and gathered chakra into his eyes. Blood red irises greeted the world when he opened them again.

The thought of his eyes' outward appearance brought back memories of the day he first saw what his eyes looked like when "whatever it was" (a simple and creative nickname Naruto had given his gift) was activated. It was kind of disappointing in his opinion. It was kind of like the Sharingan minus the tomoe. He supposed it had something to do with the color of the Kyuubi's eyes, which were also as red as the blood currently dripping down his arm.

A familiar whistling sound resounded throughout the area, bringing his mind the present immediately. A single thought instantly entered Naruto's mind: _I'm gonna die._

He did not panic or scream as he did so long ago. This time, a small smile crept across his face and he began dancing once more. If there was one thing Naruto had learned in his three months with Pain and Konan, it was how to see the funny side of things. After all, what was funnier than the idea of death when you have a link to the afterlife?

* * *

Naruto's sandals padded softly as he made his way through the labyrinth of tunnels of their hideout. This was no small task. When Pain and Konan told Naruto of their struggle for world peace (with a hint of world domination), he had had no idea what lengths they had gone to in order to ensure that their plans were known to no one but themselves. The tunnel in which Naruto walked now was merely one of…truthfully, he had no idea how many tunnels actually ran through the vast expanse of mountains and hills that made up their territory.

Of course, they didn't actually use all of the tunnels within the caves. Most of those that they did use had been built or improved upon by jutsu. Many more bases existed in other lands, though Naruto knew not where they were or how many Pain had had built. Pain had, however, recognized the improbability of subordinates memorizing every single tunnel in their main base. To combat this problem, Pain created three sub-bases within the mountain range that were located at random locations known only to him and Konan. Those operating within the base needed to know only the location of their base and the entrances to that base. For example, a member of Pain's forces returning from spying on the Jinchuriki in Suna would only know the location of the entrances to the southwest sub-base. Once inside their assigned sub-base, the member would only have knowledge of a small number of tunnels assigned to them according to their occupation. For example, scouts would use tunnels A, B, and C, whilst captains reporting on the battle situation would use tunnels D, E, and F.

Naruto had also been assigned tunnels and they led to and from the isolated forests where he trained. Anywhere else—any_thing _else—was not relevant to the training of his connection to his link and, therefore, did not concern him.

In truth, he craved to know what was going on in the outside world. The strategies and battle plans Pain and Konan devised for their armies fascinated him nearly as much as the scrolls on jutsu he was given to read when not training.

_I don't just want to know, _he thought, _I want to be a part of it…of all the action! Right at the center of things where I can make my name amongst the great of the shinobi world. Of course, that kind of goes against the core of Pain's mission…_

He grimaced as he rounded a corner into another tunnel, his feet guiding him on a well-remembered path. Naruto truly desired to become a great shinobi. He supposed it was because he wanted a goal that took him far away from the painful memories of his past.

Without warning, some unknown force pushed him to the side and onto the ground. He barely had time to yelp before his shoulder slammed into the hard rocky floor.

"Wha' the hell tem—"

Red eyes with black tomoe in their irises stared down at him impassively beneath raven black hair. The face that housed those piercing orbs was elegant and smooth, giving off the air of nobility and grace.

"S-Sasuke?"

The man's eyes widened for a moment, but he soon resumed his icy mask and replied apathetically, "Move."

Naruto stared at him, at his eyes, at his face: it was Sasuke, only bigger and…colder.

The man started walking off, his gait slow and methodical.

"Wait," Naruto cried out without thinking.

To his surprise, the man stopped and turned to face him, his Sharingan still boring into his face. Naruto took in the sight of the man and came to the quick conclusion that he was not, in fact, Sasuke. This man, while bearing a remarkable likeness to him, was taller and far more serious. His face even bore lines of weariness, as if he was weighed down by some terrible burden.

Before he could contemplate this further, Naruto's eyes caught sight of a black bundle in the man's arm and a brand new ring on the ring finger of the same arm. He squinted and caught sight of a red cloud embroidered on the bundle.

_New member_, he thought instantly. A newer and far more terrible thought soon replaced it, _Wait! Sharingan, missing nin…I-Itachi!_

Naruto was well aware of Pain and Konan's practice of recruiting S-class missing nin for their cause. They had told him soon after he had recovered from his little episode in the forest with the swirls. It hadn't really disturbed him that much, mainly because he'd had no time or energy to be disturbed.

But now, looking into the face of the man who had him caused the greatest suffering of his life, revulsion, horror, and rage shook him to the very core of his being.

Summoning up all of his fury, Naruto growled, "_You!_"

The man raised an eyebrow, then quickly assumed a barely discernible expression of understanding. He replied emotionlessly, "I take it you know Uchiha Sasuke."

"_I'LL KILL YOU!_"

The world distorted into a single blur of motion and energy. Naruto leapt forward, eyes blazing with chakra and sped through the swirls surrounding the man. His logic disappeared completely. He didn't care that he'd never fought anyone with his eyes, or that the man before him could probably snap his neck without a thought. All he saw before him was the source of the pain buried deep within his heart, hidden but never forgotten.

Naruto allowed the swirls to whip his body behind Itachi. He then pulled out a kunai and plunged his straight for his spine.

Itachi merely glanced at him from behind his shoulder, "How quaint."

Their eyes locked. The swirls spinning around Itachi abruptly stopped moving.

_Wha—_

Suddenly, they shot towards him and impacted into his head with the force of a ray of sunlight piercing through the darkness.

He screamed out loud and collapsed onto the stone surface, kunai clattering helplessly beside him. He writhed helplessly on the floor, fingers desperately digging into his eyes in a vain attempt to relieve the fiery inferno raging within them.

Out of nowhere, he heard Pain's commanding voice, "Itachi."

The burning ceased instantly. Naruto gently removed his hands from the scratched and bleeding skin around his eyes. He opened his eyelids a fraction and stared up hazily at four blobs standing above him.

"What did you do Itachi," Naruto heard Konan ask, her apathetic voice slightly inflected with anger.

"I merely performed a simple genjutsu, Konan-san," Itachi replied indifferently.

"This is more than that," Pain commented, his easily recognizable eyes glancing indifferently down at Naruto. "Did you attempt to torture him?"

"No, Leader-sama. He attempted to stab me with this," he nudged Naruto's blade with something akin to mild disgust, "so I used a genjutsu to incapacitate him. The results were…not what I expected."

For the first time in the few moments he had heard Itachi speak, he thought he could hear emotion in the traitor's voice. Was it curiosity? Pity?

_Yeah, good one Naruto. The guy who killed his entire family feels bad for you because you felt a little burning in your eyes. Speaking of which, why am I still laying here?_

He stole a glance at Itachi, _Oh yeah, I'm trying to get my kunai so I can plunge it through _his _traitorous and wretched little heart!_

His plans were in vain however, for the fourth figure placed a hand under Naruto's arm and stood him up with ease. The rush dizzied him for a moment, but he soon got his bearings back. At least, he became oriented enough to send a vicious glare at Itachi.

Konan lightly tapped him on the shoulder and, when he hastily turned to face her, asked, "What happened Naruto?"

"Huh—oh! You mean when that _traitor_," he spat the word out viciously, "took a stare at me with those pretty little eyes?"

Konan frowned, "I would probably not use such profane words, but—"

"He sent those damnable, backstabbing swirls right into my eyes! Burned the hell out of 'em. Damn, they still sting!"

He slammed his palms into his eyes and rubbed them ferociously. An iron grip latched onto them and promptly ripped them away.

"Do not exacerbate the problem," Konan commanded coldly, a slight tinge of annoyance in her voice at his vulgarity. "Now, explain what you mean."

"I told you already," he moaned, hands twitching to rub the tingling in his eyes, "_he _looked at me and the swirls attacked my eyes."

Itachi interjected calmly, "If I may Leader-sama, what are these 'swirls' this boy keeps mentioning?"

"We are finding that out for ourselves," Pain replied, frowning slightly as he did so. "But, I think he is referring to the manner in which your genjutsu was activated. We will find out another time. Naruto, come with me. If the rest of you would be so kind…" he gestured with his hand in the other direction, "I wish to be alone with him for a moment. This would be an excellent opportunity to finish that mission I gave you Konan."

Naruto glanced up worriedly at Konan, but she had already turned away to walk down the tunnel. The other two promptly followed, leaving only Naruto and Pain. The orange-haired nin placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and led him in the other direction towards his office.

"Naruto," Pain said suddenly, causing Naruto to jump beside him, "I will only say this once. You are _never _to attack those who wish to aid our cause, no matter what past quarrel you may have had with them. Do you understand?"

He emphasized this with a sharp squeeze to Naruto's shoulder, prompting Naruto to quickly respond, "Y-yes Pain-sama."

Pain nodded stiffly in approval as he pushed open the doors to his study. The sight within never ceased to amaze Naruto. For all of Pain's utilitarian policies and actions, the wealth of scrolls and books contained on innumerable and beautiful shelves in Pain's study would have put the library in Konoha to shame.

Row after row of these treasures lined the walls of the large cavern Pain had chosen for his study area. The wood of the desks and shelves shone brightly amidst the dim light of the many candles within the room, obviously having been carefully cared for by its owners. The ground of the cavern was covered by a large and simple rug, its old threads worn from years of use. When Naruto stepped onto it, the rug staunchly resisted his weight, exhibiting the rigidity of a board as opposed to its intended use as a comforter to one's feet.

"Stop there Naruto," Pain stated suddenly, as he continued to walk towards a particularly ostentatious chair behind his desk.

Not wanting to displease Pain more than he guessed he already had, Naruto did as he was commanded and stood stock still upon the uncomfortable carpet.

Pain sat down in his seat and, seeing his command obeyed, inquired in a horribly calm voice, "Why is it that you can obey my laws now but seemed incapable of it mere moments ago?"

"I—"

"Do you have a history with Uchiha Itachi, one that incites you to rash and foolish actions" Pain interjected as he placed his hands together in front of him on the desk.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "We—"

"I can think of no better reason why you would blatantly attack a member of _my _army," Naruto winced as Pain's deathly still voice rose a fraction, "than that which I have suggested. What could possibly have occurred between the two of you that could have set you against him so? Whatever it was, it is inconsequential now. I have no use for those who would let petty emotions get the better of their logic—"

"_Petty _emotions? _PETTY EMOTIONS? _The very reason I'm here is because that murdering traitor killed his entire family and left my best friend an orphan! And you know what this friend of mine did? DO YOU?"

_What Pain's saying, how he's minimizing everything that's happened to me and to Sasuke…it's unforgivable! What could that orange-haired freak know about me? Nothing! But he _will _know! He'll know what I've suffered, and if he wants to keep his precious link to that accursed Kyuubi, then he'll get rid of that bastard Itachi!_

Naruto's rage was an all-consuming fire within him, contorting and perverting his thoughts into terrible monstrosities of the mind. All he knew, all he wanted to know, was that Pain was wrong, he was right, and Pain needed to _know_ he was wrong.

Pain, however, had other ideas. In a blur of motion and words, a pillar of rock exploded from behind Naruto and smashed into his back, sending him to the ground in a violent and painful heap. Naruto felt earthy tendrils wrap around his torso, holding him in place. He writhed and thrashed about, frantically and furiously trying to escape the earth's hold upon him. His rage fueled his struggle, pumping adrenaline into his muscles to free himself from his bonds.

It was all for naught. Naruto soon found both his will to resist and his unimaginable fury, which had so terribly dominated his thoughts but moments ago, ebb away into the dark recesses of his mind. His body quivering from exhaustion and his breath coming out in short, shallow heaves, Naruto gave up his anger and ceased his fight against the hold of the tendrils.

A tap on his shoulder drew his gaze, which had been intently focusing on a rather interesting piece of dirt in the carpet, upwards. It met the inscrutable face of Pain.

"Naruto," he began calmly, "I understand what you are going through. I too endured tragedy in my past."

This piqued Naruto's interest, but Pain continued on before Naruto could inquire further, "I also understand the wrath within you that begs to be released upon the world. It would feel good to vent it upon someone, no?"

Naruto turned his eyes downward.

"As I thought," Pain said, moving past Naruto's silence with the expertise of a skilled diplomat, "your anger is causing you to think irrationally. If there is one thing I wish to _impart unto_ you, it is that emotions, while making us human, need to be controlled and restrained at all times. They are the keys to your heart and thoughts. Your enemies will exploit them and destroy you with them."

Naruto furrowed his brow, his mind temporarily distracted by confusion, "Do you want me to become like some machine then? My emotions," he waved his small arms around in search of a proper description beneath the earty tendrils, "make me _me_, just like you said. I can't just give them up."

Pain shook his head, "I am not asking you to. I am telling you that in order to become a strong shinobi, you will need to be able to put your emotions aside when the time comes. You will need to be able to empty your heart and mind of all save what is necessary to complete the task required of you."

Naruto's heart leapt to his throat, "Do…do you mean—"

"Ending a person's life?"

"Y-yeah."

There was a moment's pause, then, "Yes."

"O-oh go—"

"This is the price of pursuing one's goals, but it is not the only cost," Pain interrupted, his words weighing down upon Naruto like a mountain. "Your attack on Itachi demonstrates that you do not have the discipline or desire to accept this final burden. Of course, it also means that you do not have the inclination either."

"Is this burden," Naruto began, his eyebrows pointed downwards in thought, "the 'absence of my emotions'?"

Pain nodded, "It is the emotional damage you receive as a result of consistently ending and destroying life while restraining any humane thoughts."

"Huh," Naruto uttered blankly.

Pain allowed a moment of pause before continuing, "Naruto, if this does not sit well with you, if you are not prepared to make this your main purpose, then—"

Anger exploded against his skull and Naruto opened his mouth to retort. But Pain's words, spoken with a refinement and grace that had assuaged his own seething rage, rang clear as a bell within his mind. His wrath, like a blade under water, cooled and hardened into a razor sharp edge, giving him focus and clarity unlike any he had ever experienced. Resolve empowered his once weary and beleaguered body, and the shame and hatred in his actions against Itachi seemed a distant and ugly dream. He barely noticed Pain's eyes glowing as he spoke.

Just as Pain reached the conclusion of his statement, Naruto interrupted him, his voice tranquil despite the turmoil he had gone through moments before, "I have nowhere left to go, no one left to turn to, no purpose left to drive me on…you two are the only people I have left tying me to life. For that reason, I will do anything to help your dreams reach fruition, for they are my dreams now. If that means killing…dying…forgiving _him_," Naruto's composed face twitched momentarily, "then I will do so."

Pain's gaze was unwavering and empty, but Naruto thought he saw respect and not a little relief in his face. For his part, Pain merely replied, "Very well. I have a test for you then…a mission that requires you to end the lives of others."

Naruto felt his stomach lurch terribly. He hadn't been expecting to kill so soon. While he'd really meant those words, he still didn't feel even remotely ready to kill someone.

Pain did not abate his speech (despite what Naruto felt were obvious signs of doubt and anxiety on his face) and continued, "It is not dangerous, unless you fail to use your eyes to their fullest. If that is the case, then you will surely die. What of your pledge to me? Will you hold to it, or shirk from its responsibility?"

The intense focus Naruto had held so wonderfully wavered with uncertainty. He was about to pledge his life, his very meaning, to two people he had known for only months.

_But they saved me…and at the risk of their dreams and hopes. If I must have a meaning to live, then there is no better place than by Pain and Konan's side._

Dispelling his doubt with a shake of his head, Naruto replied, his voice quiet in the deep stone of the cavern, "My word has been never been anything special. I've never had to make a verbal promise to anyone before. But now…now I feel something worthy of a promise, an opportunity that I would be a fool to let go. And so, I pledge my body, mind, and soul to you and my word will be the unbreakable bond that ties them to your cause."

Naruto promptly turned around and exited the room, his heart beating against his chest despite the calm façade he put forth as he rigidly walked down the tunnel. Not even the sharpest mind could avoid fear in the face of such a powerful oath. Yet in spite of his fear, Naruto felt contentment and satisfaction form a bubble inside his chest. He had drifted along before, training and living simply because he had no other option. But now…now he had a purpose…a meaning. His past was simply a memory to him. If he happened to come across Konoha again, then so be it.

Anxiety threatened to burst his bubble at this thought, but he persevered and reassured himself by thinking, _I will not my fears consume me. It will impede my dream. It will impede Konan and Pain's dream. My life is theirs and I have to be a hundred percent focused to be useful to them._

For the first time in his life, Naruto had a purpose that he refused to question or doubt. Perhaps faith in others—feeling certain that they would help and love you—wasn't such a bad thing after all.

* * *

"The commander of the troops at point C," Pain's black fingernail marked the spot on the map with unparalleled distinction, "is actually located in the forest 200 hundred meters west of his troops."

"But that makes him closer to the four battalions around point A. Are they using transmitters?"

Naruto glanced from Pain's side at the inquiring squad commander. He was obviously a nin of some kind, if the slight air of confidence and assurance was anything to go by. Youth was somewhat more abundant, for his face showed no signs of age or blemishes at all. His eyes, however, told a different story.

It had been two weeks since Naruto's discussion with Pain and during that time he had performed several missions for him and gained what he felt was an adequate insight into a person's general personality. The missions themselves were simple in nature, merely encompassing the delivery of a mysterious message to an equally mysterious recipient; but they did provide invaluable experience in dealing with enemy troops alone and they allowed Naruto to confidently detect wariness in the young soldier's eyes that could have only been the result terrible and inhuman conditions—the conditions of battle.

He supposed this insight and experience would be useful when it came time to…

…_Kill._

Naruto shuddered involuntarily. In the two weeks of missions Naruto had undergone, he had never had to end another person's life. It just wasn't necessary for their completion. However, he would doubtless have to do itsoon.

His stomach turned into several complex knots at the thought of it. Ever since Pain had asked him about his willingness to kill for their cause, Naruto had run every scenario he could imagine through his head that pertained to that terrible deed. All of them turned the froth of his anxiety into a suffocating twister, spinning and scrunching and twisting his nerves until he could no longer stand.

Yet what terrified him most of all about the prospect of ending life, was the small tint of pleasure that accompanied his morbid imaginings. The feeling of power, of being infamous and deadly to one's enemies and loved by one's friends, was quite…tempting. Naruto knew exactly why too, and its transparency sickened him all the more.

_Since I can't make friends on my own, I'll just kill my way into their hearts, _he thought sarcastically as Pain and the commander continued to converse on military matters, a subject he normally would have been very interested in had his current predicament not been more pressing. His awareness of the ridiculousness of his thoughts didn't stop him from thinking them. Power, made to seem corrupting and empty, was all too real for Naruto. That surge of triumph that he felt whenever he did something right made its presence known here as well.

"Naruto."

He twitched imperceptibly, "Yes, Pain-sama."

At the beginning of each dark and stormy day (a form of weather that made it very hard to see the sun creeping over the horizon when Naruto awoke from his slumber), Pain would take Naruto with him to his meetings with those squad commanders scheduled to give their weekly reports. The location of these reports was always different and led them through the entirety of the vast mountain range that Pain's territory encompassed. This alone was enough to tire Naruto's body, but he received no rest. As soon as they were finished with their meetings, Pain would lead him down to some random body of water to train for several hours.

This was one of the few parts of the regimen that Naruto actually enjoyed. The variation in the lakes and rivers Pain chose to train in seemed to be designed to make whatever task he was assigned nearly impossible. The challenge of it, to his immense surprise and pleasure, excited him and infused him with the drive him to work out the best possible outcome with his mind rather than with his fists.

This latter form of problem-solving had always been convenient and simple when he was faced with a difficult problem as a member of Team 7 and it was a method he used whenever he desired to keep his enemies fooled. Unfortunately, Naruto found only now that he actually preferredto use his fists rather than his mind. It was a perfect vent for his anger.

Pain's exercises, however, allowed for no such foolishness. The first three months of his training—before the Itachi incident—had been simple tests of his eyes. After Naruto's pledge, however, Pain began taking a much more active role in his development than merely throwing a barrage of kunai. Now, he appeared to be trying to train Naruto as a shinobi rather than as a mere carrier of the Kyuubi's gift (_Kyuubi no Tenkei_). This was most clearly demonstrated when Naruto, in a fit of irrational fury, charged at Pain, fists raised and eyes blazing blood. In a motion Naruto could only see with his eyes, which itself was still incredibly hard to do in the chaos of the swirls, Pain wrapped him in a cocoon of wind and torpedoed him into the choppy surface of the water. His anger vanished with the blood that exited his mouth from the impact.

Despite that "lesson", it had only been until two days ago when Naruto was able to resist his urge to lash out in righteous fury and think clearly about the problem at hand. When battling a ninja of one's own caliber (or ninja who willingly sunk to one's own caliber, as in Pain's case), battles could last for a very long time. Even when time was of the essence, a rushed attack or ill-thought-of plan could be fatal.

This was the line of thinking that guided Naruto as he saw Pain make a slight motion with his hand and then walk down the tunnel. Naruto followed him instantly, already aware of what Pain had in mind.

He was soon leaping gracefully down a steep mountain path behind his calm mentor, the patter of his feet against the smooth stone forming a delightful rhythm to his movement.

Naruto took a glance down at their landing spot. It was a small clearing that almost immediately gave way to a massive pond.

_Strategy training? Haven't done that in a while…_

The water rippled as his chakra-covered feet landed upon it, sending the multitude of fish and tadpoles scurrying away to unknown rocks and crevices. Pain landed several feet in front of him. With no fluctuation in his voice marking the gravity of his words, Pain stated, "Today is the end of your training under my tutelage."

Naruto responded naturally, "W-what?"

"The missions before now," Pain continued on, ignoring the sheer dismay plaguing Naruto's visage, "have all been preparing you for the life you will lead as a member of our organization…as a member of Akatsuki. Where our other elite members work in pairs, you will work alone, finding and gathering the other Jinchuriki so that Akatsuki's goal—_our _goal—may be achieved."

The despair that gripped his chest in a vice-like hold eased slightly. He had been afraid Pain and Konan were leaving him.

Involuntarily sighing in relief, Naruto queried, "Then why is this my last day training with you? Wouldn't it be better if I learned from the best?"

He felt a small tinge of joy when Pain smirked; but it was quickly doused when his mentor replied, "Flattery, while an amusing facet of human interaction, is not what I require from you. I am not abandoning you; in fact, you, Konan, and I will be working together very closely in our quest. The reason that your training with me is over is because I simply have nothing left to teach you right now."

"That's—!"

"Naruto," Pain interjected sharply, "your eyes are a mystery to me. I am afraid that the teaching I give you could ruin any independent effort you might make to realize their full potential. You are the first known person in the shinobi world to possess such a power. It is up to you to discover its abilities."

Naruto looked away. He felt several things: anger, frustration, betrayal...but fear was the predominant sensation, forming a tight knot in his stomach that was too painful to ignore. How could he bear such a heavy responsibility? Discovering the secret of his eyes…their dream depended on it. What if he failed? What if he couldn't find the answers? What if—

He arched his back behind him, barely dodging the three water kunai sent hurtling towards him.

_No time to doubt myself_, he thought with a smirk._ Whoever your teacher was Pain, they must have been pretty good. Hmm, Pain as a student…can't imagine that. He seems kind of timeless—_

"After this training," Naruto snapped his attention to Pain, who spoke with an ease that belied the effort of launching barrage after barrage of kunai and shuriken, "you will rest for several hours. Upon reaching the end of that time period, you will set out on a mission."

_Bring the arm down…swirls say it's coming towards my right shoulder…dive under…push up…flip…spin…analyze…pivot…Soyokaze…_

The desire to survive prevented Naruto from paying attention to Pain's words. He was too busy evaluating where he could trade places with a clone behind a tree to his far left or too focused on knocking away the kunai and then dodging the next wave—he didn't want to die after all. His mind was starting to becoming as fluid as the swirls which guided him through danger. He still made mistakes, still received lacerations and bruises from stray blades and punches; but each time, his mind got a bit quicker at predicting where an attack would go. The swirls, once an indecipherable blob of motion, were becoming legible, like when Iruka was teaching him to read when he first joined the Academy. It made him ecstatic with energy and motion—he simply loved being alive.

"You will assassinate Commander Musha Youjinbukai. Upon completion of the mission, return—"

Naruto continued his dance, his attention focused solely on planning his next move.

"Commander Youjinbukai is located in Taki in support of Hanzou's Konoha allies. However, he is also 'acquiring' resources from the villages around his post and sending them to Hanzou to aid his campaign against us. He is a great general, but not a nin. You will have no trouble dealing with him personally. His guards, however, are many in number. Our troops will distract as many as they can by attacking the fort directly. He will most likely attend to the matter personally in order to acquire prisoners to interrogate. It is then that you will strike. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded unconsciously; but just as he was deflecting a kunai away from him, Pain's words hit him with every bit of force they carried.

_A-a-assassinate…kill? I'm—I'm going to _kill_?_

He froze, his eyes wide and shaking. The remaining kunai dispelled into water, splashing against his face like a teasing kiss. The swirls disappeared as his eyes deactivated, taking with them all the joy he had felt while dancing to their ethereal rhythm. He collapsed into the water, its icy depths doing nothing to shake him from his despair.

He did not notice Pain walk to his side; nor did he notice his savior's steady hand grasp his shirt and lift him up until he was standing.

"Naruto," Pain began, his typical coldness absent from his voice, "you knew this was coming. For you to be useful to us, you need to learn how to end life. You've killed before after all…"

Naruto winced as if he'd been struck.

_The two Kumo with my Bunshin Daibakuha…but that was different. That was to…protect…_

"Those two nin you killed are dead because you were protecting those dearest to you. You felt that the happiness gained from your friends was greater than their lives."

Naruto glared viciously at Pain, "How w—"

"And they felt the same way. They were willing to kill you because they did not want _their _loved ones, their source of happiness, to be removed from this world. Our codes and ideas of honor are mere illusions to hide this dreadful fact from ourselves. If a soldier was able to get to know their enemy, wars would be a rare occurrence, if not nonexistent. The vast majority of people need a reason to kill another person and a belief that that death will fulfill some greater purpose. Take you, for instance. You trained as a child to kill others to protect something precious to you and you did just that. You killed two people so that your friends would not die. It was the same for the Kumo. They were willing to kill you and your teammates, mere children, so that their own loved ones could live in peace. Even sociopaths, usually some of the most powerful nin in the shinobi world, kill for a reason, however perverse it might seem to you or I. Which reason is the _right _reason? Which reason is the _wrong _reason?"

The answer drained all feeling from Naruto's body. It was as blatant as the terror that consumed him now.

"There is no right reason," he responded finally, his body practically leaning against Pain's own, "but there's no wrong reason either…"

Naruto felt Pain's chest rise slightly as he sighed. His mentor replied, "That seems to be the case. While it is impossible to know if this is true or not, the fact that every human is biased one way or another is almost an absolute certainty. Who's to say that a murdering, raping monster's reason for killing is wrong? Who's to say that your reason for saving your friends was right? We have no way of knowing. Perhaps that is where religion originated…at the heart of the doubt that every human feels about their existence."

He paused for a moment, for which Naruto was very grateful. His head was starting to thrum with a sudden exhaustion that he did not understand; a weariness that went beyond mere physical hurt and struck deep at his own reason for living a life that seemed so terribly cursed.

"It is because of the chaos of reasoning that I want you, Naruto, to learn how to kill without provocation. From this point forth, you will kill any person who you think might be aware of your existence."

The thrum had become a dull, empty feeling in his head. Pain's words no longer created a cacophony of emotional torrent within his mind.

Blankly, he replied, "Very well."

Pain's grip on his shoulder softened, "Naruto, we are at the turning point in our struggle. Hanzou has survived many wars and defeated nin as legendary as the Sannin. Even after finally losing to Konoha, he still managed to forge an alliance with them that spared Ame much of the humiliation that the other losers of the war were forced to endure. Now, we enter one of the most chaotic periods in our history. It has even taken hold of one of our own, causing him to betray us. With the Uchiha Massacre, Konoha will most likely seek an end to the war as quickly as possible. Even with one of their most powerful clans eradicated, they are still one of the strongest nations in the shinobi world. They will find some way to recover and with the thousands upon thousands of ninja at their disposal, all of them competent in battle and fervent in their belief in the "Will of Fire", they will be one of our greatest obstacles. The other Four Nations too will recover, both Konoha's allies and its enemies, and they will rebuild their forces so that they can match the power of Konoha. The only way we can hope to overcome such power is through the might of the Bijuu…and those who carry them. You and your eight 'kin' are as necessary to our cause as every soldier under our command. All who are with us are of equal importance and that applies to you as well. This is your final chance to turn back Naruto. Will you commit your body and soul to a cause you can only hope is just, or will you turn away from change and forfeit any contribution you might make?"

Naruto detached himself from Pain's cloak slowly, as if he were moving through the very water he was standing on. He turned his gaze directly into the eyes of Pain. The ringlets radiated power, but Naruto felt no fear when looking into them. Instead, he poured chakra into his own eyes and let their power push his doubt out of his mind.

"The pledge I made you two weeks ago is as good now as it was then." He bowed as low and as respectfully as he could.

Resolve and power suddenly overtook him and in a sudden and quick gesture, Naruto turned his stare onto Pain, eyes blazing as red as blood, and proclaimed his allegiance, "I am Akatsuki!"

* * *

His feet clunked against the bark of a tree as he leapt off it. Dozens of other feet followed suit, their sound muffled by the storm blanketing the skies of Taki. Naruto weaved over, through and around branches as he followed the veteran shinobi captain in front of him.

They were close…very, very close.

This would be his first premeditated kill. He couldn't imagine—

_Enough! You made your pledge—twice now actually—and you need to stick to it. Stop fretting about it and move._

Amazingly, Naruto's self-bereavement dispelled his doubt and he confidently leapt after his leader.

A small sound beside his left ear suddenly diverted his attention. A small piece of paper in the shape of bird fluttered beside him, using the broad leaves of the trees to shield its fragile body from the rain.

"Hey Konan," he called out cheerfully, his voice nearly inaudible amidst the torrent of rain crashing down around him.

The bird's only response was to gracefully land in his hand as he reached out for a branch, preventing him from actually grabbing onto said branch.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

His body automatically back-flipped, avoiding the branch…and smacking into another one. The impact sent him careening towards the ground, but one of the following Ame nin easily snatched him up before he could flatten himself, asking mechanically, "Are you alright?"

Naruto didn't respond immediately. He was too busy glaring at the astonishingly intact paper avian cradled in his palm.

His eyes two massive white plates and arms flailing wildly, he screamed, "Again…WHAT THE HELL?"

One of its wings fluttered. The bird stared unblinkingly at him (which, Naruto realized, would not have been hard considering it had no eyes), then cocked its head in a manner only an adorable animal could pull off successfully.

An almost unrealistically large sweat-drop appeared on the back of Naruto's head.

_Why me?_

The nonexistent weight of the bird increased tenfold in an instant. Naruto nearly dropped the large, bulky package that had appeared out of the bird's…something.

A few expletives later, and he realized that he was staring at a brand new kunai and shuriken kit, packed to the brim with the deadliest weapons he'd ever laid eyes on.

_Konan's way to say 'I care about you' I guess_, he thought jokingly.

It actually wasn't that far from the truth. Konan's attitude towards him since he had begun his training was nothing even remotely similar to the tenderness that led him through the despair that his friends' abandonment had put him in. The greatest direct show of affection she'd shown him was a curt nod while he'd been passing her down the hall.

That wasn't to say she'd ignored him _completely_. She would aid him anonymously by sending packages that contained anything from weapons to training tips. At least, he hoped it was her sending them. If not…that'd be kind of creepy.

While he wanted to think she was just trying to toughen him up, Naruto couldn't help feeling saddened by the loss of her presence. The only reason he was still alive was because of her. Forever was she imprinted on his mind as he first saw her: a beautiful symbol of the love he had never been given as a child.

"Hey kid? _Kid!_"

Naruto turned around to see his rescuer's battle-scarred face scowling impatiently at him, "Get off your ass and move Genin. I can't carry you the whole damned way."

_Wha—oh right, my cover._

For secrecy reasons, Pain had Naruto assigned as part of an "elite Genin squad", which basically consisted of him and two other nervous Genin. He'd wanted to feel superior them, but he quickly realized that the only thing that separated him from them was his connection to Pain. They were probably as experienced as he was in terms of actual mission time.

_No matter. I still don't have to worry about the higher-level guys taking my ki—_

He cringed visibly. Naruto really didn't want to start thinking that way, as if he already owned the life of his target. Such arrogance led to failure…and to a sick feeling in the bottom of his stomach.

_Forget it. All I have to worry about is doing it. Everyone else's orders are to distract the guards._

The nin who was carrying him let go, letting Naruto fall onto a nearby branch. From there, he propelled himself forward and quickly inserted himself back into the group. A branch snagged his grey Ame uniform as he did so, causing a slight frown to form on his face. The suit had been given to him by Pain as a symbol of his new direction. It was simple, merely consisting of ninja khaki's, a black long-sleeved shirt, a grey armor vest (easily distinguishable from a Chuunin vest of course), and a black bandana to cover his vibrant blonde hair. An Ame plate with a scratch through the middle covered the front half of the bandana, blatantly professing his allegiance to the world.

He supposed it was better than his old orange clothes; but then again, he'd never really paid attention to what he wore in the first place. It was no different now. He'd probably rid himself of the clothes soon enough. He felt too _ordinary _in them.

"Base sighted. Isshi, follow us to the river, then head in the opposite direction. You know what to do. Everyone else, follow my lead and cause as much chaos as possible. No head-on charges! If I die—"

Naruto tuned out the rest of what his commander said, most especially because of his code name.

_Isshi? Child? Does Pain _want _to embarrass me?_

The indignity he felt was further exacerbated by the doubtful looks his comrades threw at him. Not good for an aspiring shinobi.

"Now move out!"

He blinked, then took off, his small legs working in overtime to keep up with the much taller commander.

They ran out of the forest and down a rocky hill, the rain thunder of the night concealing their movements to all but the best of guards. Naruto felt the nighttime adrenaline and the rush of impending battlefuel his limbs with life and energy. He leapt from rock to rock with the ease of a deer, the rain refreshing his face like the kiss of a soft pillow. Glancing up, a massive rock wall shoved its existence into his vision. The rock wall lay directly across the river and was connected to the forest by a small bridge that Naruto knew was to be burned. He would have to run up that wall to get to his target.

A sudden impact awoke him from his thoughts. They had landed at the foot of the cliff, soft and wet grass meeting their feet briefly before they sped off towards the river that separated the fort from their current position.

Naruto glanced back at his comrades, but could see only dark and flitting shapes in the void of the night. Thunder would occasionally illuminate the landscape, revealing a glimpse of a grey vest of piece of armor before the land was consumed by darkness once again.

"All right Isshi, go!"

"_Hai_ sempai!"

Any indignation at addressing someone who wasn't his real commander so respectfully was forgotten as he sped to the right onto the river, his chakra-enhanced feet carrying him across the choppy water towards his destination.

_Comrades will draw guards and target out, target will orchestrate defense, I'll come behind and slay target…_

Naruto repeated his instructions over and over, forming a guiding rhythm to his movements as he turned onto the rocky hill that housed the fort on its top. He caught a glimpse of the bridge and thought he could see a small spark beginning to form at its middle. Increasing his speed, he weaved through the stones and boulders jutting out of the walls, his eyes burning red to guide him through the mysterious darkness.

In what felt like a mere blink of his eye, Naruto flipped onto the surface beside the fort wall. He smiled inwardly. Pain's training was paying off. He'd gotten faster and was able to run a lot longer than he used to. A run like that would have winded him a few months ago; but now, he _enjoyed _it.

Motion atop the walls of the fort prompted him to move forward, the swirls forming clearly visible paths to every living thing within his line of sight and beyond. Sounds of fighting and explosions met his ears soon.

_Dammit!_

He threw himself against the fort's wall as a flaming kunai hurtled past his face.

_Images of Kumo nin exploding with his clone, Sakura and Sasuke retreating into the forest, hordes of Kumo nin rushing towards him…_

All of these nightmarish images bombarded his vision as the blade whizzed past his face.

The light of his purpose, radiant with the sun, suddenly dispelled the phantasms like a whiff of smoke.

_That time is gone. Now is what's important. Fight for their dream, for your dream. Fight!_

"Fight…all right, I'll fight!"

"Hey, did you hear something," a cautious voice asked from atop the wall.

Naruto cursed under his breath.

_The beauty of righteous speeches. Forget it, just go, go, go, GO!_

He took off, his arms straight out behind him as he sprinted through the darkness.

The fort was much larger than he'd first thought, for it took him several minutes just to round the first corner. He did finally reach the battle site and he spotted his target easily amidst the ferocious skirmishes taking place on the bridge. The fact that the enemy soldiers were able to match the Ame nin confused Naruto at first, for they seemed to be ordinary soldiers. But then he caught a glimpse of one of them extending his blade with chakra to slash at an attacker.

_Samurai. Probably just mercenaries. A real Samurai could have killed the other Genin in a heartbeat._

This point was emphasized when one of the said Genin planted her foot in her opponent's face and sent him careening off of the bridge.

The Ame Chuunin seemed to have gotten the more experienced of Youjinbukai's men. Their battles were far more impressive to watch. Jutsu and chakra-enhanced blades clashed violently amidst the flames engulfing the rapidly collapsing bridge.

A man of medium and large build suddenly yelled out, "NOW!"

The Samurai suddenly slammed their swords into the earth, releasing spikes of rock from the ground. All but one Genin dodged the attack unscathed. His foot was torn completely off by a rising spike.

Naruto ignored the screams and concentrated on his target. Shoulder-length hair, silver as the moon, flowed gracefully down Youjinbukai's back. A dignified beard accentuated the wisdom apparent in his eyes as he calmly shouted orders to his troops. And now, that would all have to end.

Crouching low onto the balls of his feet, Naruto slowly crept up to the Commander, hiding himself in the shadows of the fort's walls whenever Samurai would rush through the gate to join the fight.

When he was concealed behind a rock twenty yards away from Youjinbukai, he made a final analysis of the situation.

_Two Samurai guards, very experienced by the looks of it. Threat of more guards coming in from the fort. He's probably afraid of a large force attacking his rear, so he's keeping reserve forces behind the walls. Why does he head the attack himself though? His troops' morale would drop horribly if he got killed. If that's the risk he wants to take then…I…guess…_

What he was about to do suddenly hit Naruto square in the face. All of the planning, the training—all of it was to kill people like this man.

_Remember your pledge, remember your pledge…_

He repeated the phrase over and over in his mind, his hands forming the sign of a jutsu as he did so.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_," he whispered. Four clones popped into existence beside him, all looking like generic Ame ninja. Instantly, two of them attacked Youjinbukai, kunai raised and throats roaring with passion. The Samurai guards quickly counterattacked, easily deflecting the clones.

The Bunshin instantly retreated towards the opposite side of Naruto's hiding place. The Samurai recognized the ploy and did not pursue. Instead, they formed a two-layer defense, with one of them warding off the guerilla attacks of the clones while the other formed a tight guard around Youjinbukai.

_Perfect._

The third clone leapt out of the ground directly in front of the samurai and attacked him head-on. The Samurai predictably deflected it, but not before leaving a substantial opening in his defense of his Commander.

In the moment before his clone's diversion, the last clone leapt over the rock and launched a kunai at the predicted opening. Youjinbukai quickly unsheathed his sword and knocked the blade away, then prepared to face his opponent.

It was too late. The real Naruto was already running towards him. When Youjinbukai slashed his sword down at him, Naruto allowed the swirls to shift his body out of way. The guard swung his own sword at him as well, but Naruto easily flipped up above it. It was while in midair that his instinct took over. In one fluid motion, he grabbed the sheath strapped onto the guard's back, pulled himself onto the guard, and stabbed him in between the neck and collarbone. His mind racing with energy, he jumped off of the collapsing guard's chest and propelled himself into towards Youjinbukai, bloody kunai gleaming with excitement.

The wizened commander glared at him with battle-hardened eyes and expertly moved to parry Naruto's block.

The cling of metal, the slight squelch of skin parting to allow a blade into its depths—the two remained locked together, as if in some ancient painting glorifying the wrath of war.

Naruto stood upon Youjinbukai's thighs on the tips of his toes. His body and arms lay behind the old man's sword, its thin blade digging through his Ame armor into his flesh.

For his part, Youjinbukai held Naruto's slight weight as if it was nothing and his face bore the calm of one experienced in facing a blade.

Naruto disregarded the cool aura permeating Youjinbukai's being. His focus was solely on his kunai, which was nearly invisible behind the man's parrying wrist. A sticky liquid oozed through his hands where he thought his kunai might be.

_Blood?_

"You show promise boy," Youjinbukai stated, abruptly breaking his chain of thought, "but your youth will not stay my hand."

Naruto only had time to glance in the man's cold grey eyes before a force of unbelievable strength slammed into his chest. Dark spots dotted his vision as his body slammed into the ground at Youjinbukai's feet.

A ragged, hacking cough escaped from Naruto's mouth. The pain was excruciating, but he was too dazed to notice anything but blur of Youjinbukai's massive form standing above him. He though he heard words; perhaps the old man was making some speech.

Whatever it was, it suddenly stopped within the first few moments. Youjinbukai's blurry figure started swaying to the side and then fell backwards, sending what Naruto felt was a massive shockwave through the ground.

Naruto lay there for a few moments, still too stunned to react to this new development. But he despite the daze his impact with the ground had put him in, his purpose—something he had fought to find for what felt like such a long time—shone like a star through the night of his pain.

Rolling onto his stomach, Naruto pushed himself up and clambered into a standing position. He swayed for a second, but righted himself before Youjinbukai's form. He gazed upon his target with squinted eyes, for the blur from his impact still cast a veil over his vision.

As his eyes ran over the old body, they latched on to the cause of Youjinbukai's collapse: inserted just underneath the old man's left collarbone was a kunai…Naruto's kunai. Stains of blood reflected the light of the stars brilliantly and illuminated a slow trickle of the liquid still flowing from the wound.

Relief was the first thing that Naruto felt, all ethical deliberations aside, _I…I got him? Heh, that's good—_

A shimmer in the darkness prompted Naruto to swerve to the side. The shimmer quickly passed through the light of the moon, then receded into the darkness, revealing itself to be a kunai. Naruto instinctively crouched down into a fighting stance and searched for the blade's source. His attention was drawn to wretched wheezing cough to his front.

He turned towards it and was meant with the sight of Youjinbukai's outstretched hand, bent slightly with the effort of throwing a blade.

Naruto's eyes widened considerably, _H-he's still fighting?_

Unconsciously, Naruto's stance loosened. He fell back several steps, as if the very sight of Youjinbukai's half-dead form pained him.

_W-what d-do I do? He can't hurt m-me like that…but I—my orders—Pain w-wants him dead. He'll bleed to death…right?_

He frantically looked around him. The Ame forces, while suffering no casualties due to their guerilla tactics, were losing ground quickly. Enemy reinforcements were already coming from another fort and they more than likely had medic nin with them.

_If I leave him here, he might not die. I have to…have to…_

A single tear ran down Naruto's face as he quietly unsheathed a kunai from the pouch Konan had sent him. Slowly, as if in a trance, Naruto trudged over to Youjinbukai's body. When he reached it, he stopped and hovered over his pale and drawn face. He stared into his eyes.

Life and defiance stared back. This man would not die by himself. Death would only wrap him in its loving embrace with the help of another…with the help of Naruto.

Bending down, Naruto sat down on Youjinbukai's chest and straddled the man's sides with his small legs. One might have thought them to be grandfather and son had they spared but a glance at them.

Youjinbukai reached up to grab him, but Naruto mechanically knocked it away. The blood loss sapped all of the old man's strength. Youjinbukai was powerless to stop him.

As if in a final act of defiance, blood spewed out of Youjinbukai's mouth, splattering Naruto with its red touch. Though the rain began washing it away immediately, it still served only to further the reality of what Naruto was going to do; yet, he remained still, his eyes locked on to Youjinbukai's own.

Hand crushing the handle of his kunai, Naruto brought the blade against Youjinbukai's throat. Guilt and humanity all rushed into his nerves, sending electrical waves through his fingers. More tears joined his first, disappearing into the rain as if they had never existed at all.

In a choked and despairing voice, Naruto whispered, "I'm s-sorry."

He pressed the blade down and sliced it across Youjinbukai's throat, releasing the red liquid all across his neck. The flesh easily gave way to the metal and allowed the blade to slide through it as if he was carving through silk.

The tears became a downpour…the rain was his tears, blanketing Youjinbukai's face with his guilt and anguish. He wanted to look away. He wanted throw himself off of the cliff at that moment and rid the world of the horrible thing that he felt he was; but he could not. All he could do was stare into the grey orbs as their life faded away. He expected hatred and rage to glare back at him, as if heavenly retribution would burn his soul.

Instead…he found pity. Youjinbukai lay there, his throat torn and red with Naruto's blade, and stared at him with pity and sadness. Though the rain wetted his face, Naruto thought he saw a tear, a mirror image of his own, slowly run down his face.

And then, he was dead. There was no final breath, as if he was sinking into bed for a long night's sleep. There was no dramatic sigh, no final memorial that made this man's life different from any other person's.

Instead, he simply stopped. The light and defiance faded and died away as if they had never been. The head lolled to the side slightly and blood-stained lips froze in a half-open gape.

Naruto stared at the face. That was it. This being-this _human_-had died…and nothing else seemed to change. The dirt beneath the body still shifted with the wind. The sky remained dark with the night and light with the moon. The rain still washed away the blood on Youjinbukai's face.

_His death_, Naruto finally thought, _meant…nothing._

Panic seized hold of Naruto's chest. He grabbed the dead man's head and wrenched close to him, his eyes frantically searching for something, anything that might deny the reality that loomed before him.

All that greeted him was flesh and bone.

_I-I've just killed a man. I-I took away his happiness…his dreams…and it didn't change anything._

"N-n-no…no, no, no, no, no…"

His speech devolved into heaves, squeaks, and sobs as he scrunched Youjinbukai's hair in his hands. He pressed his face against the lifeless mask of the body and closed his eyes, his tear-filled words begging the darkness to take this nightmare away.

The face only furthered his despair. He could feel the blood stilling in side of it. It no longer needed it…

Two arms wrapped around his chest and lifted him into the air. It was probably his Ame comrades carrying him back to their base. The enemy would have killed him on sight. His thoughts turned to Pain and Konan and his sobs diminished slightly.

Was this the price of their dream? Did their dream mean nothing if the lives of those they murdered meant nothing?

Surprisingly, Naruto did not feel anger towards them. He didn't know why at first and then the answer came rushing to his the forefront of his mind with brutal and cold clarity, _They must have felt the same way when they made their first kill. This is their way with dealing with its pain. They want end it completely so that no one has to experience it…so that no one has to die—die like—_

His breath came in great heaves as he fought hold his tears in. He could not cry now. He could never cry again. Pain and Konan's dream would only be realized through strength and resolve…and he would find that resolve in those he killed. For them, he would he fight so that none would ever have to die again. Their lives and their deaths would not be meaningless.

_I promise you…Youjinbukai…_

The night engulfed them into its embrace and led Naruto towards his future.

* * *

**A/N**: I am sorry to say that there will be _one _more chapter before the Chuunin Exams. After something like this, I can't really introduce Anko without risking going overboard emotionally. What Naruto's going through is deep stuff and I don't want to risk cheapening it by throwing everything at you at once. The next chapter won't be as long and I promise you that it will come quickly. This one took far too long and I can only say it's because I'm getting used to college life. Four weeks it's been for me and with everything going on here, I don't seem to find enough time to write. The next chapters won't take so long, I assure you.

As for Naruto's "Kekkei Genkai" – I will admit that I did rush a few things in this story (Naruto's three month training period, for instance). But there is a _lot _more to it than Naruto merely flowing with the "swirls". It won't be as apparent in the next chapter, but the Chuunin Exam will really show. And no, Naruto will not rely on his Kekkei Genkai all the time, so there's definitely no need to worry about that.

Please keep up the reviews and constructive criticism and I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will enjoy the chapters to come.

**A/N+**: I updated this chapter (as of 12/01/09) to get rid of some of the mistakes. When I first posted it, the story was so long that I couldn't edit the entire thing correctly. I read it again to reference it in my current chapter (Chapter 8) and was met with the unpleasant surprise of rough draft worthy mistakes. I apologize for this. Hopefully this will make reading a little more enjoyable.

Oramo


	5. Questions of Life

**A/N**: Hey guys, thanks for all of the reviews. Let me get right to some of the questions you have about the story. The Uchiha Massacre is the catalyst for the story, but some of you rightly pointed out that Konoha would never have sacrificed such a powerful force during a time of war. The reason this occurred in my story is mostly based around the attitude of the Uchiha Clan rather than that of the Konoha Council. The reason the Uchiha planned the coup d'état in canon was because they feared that the Konoha Council wished to make them subservient, a belief that was perpetuated by their placement in an area where they could be more easily monitored. The Uchiha doing this during the war might be even more realistic than in canon. What better time to overthrow a government than when the vast majority of said government's troops are miles away? This might also allow the Uchiha to quickly cover up the coup d'état and still keep the "loyalty" of the troops outside of Konoha (possibly accomplished by pretending the Hokage was still in power).

It's probably because of the fear of this likelihood that the Council (and the Hokage) placed them in such a discriminating location. That and they feared the Kyuubi attack was caused by an Uchiha. I'm guessing that during wartime the three elders and Sarutobi were especially aware of this, forming contingency plans in case the Uchiha Clan did actually betray them. This would include a gradual restructuring of the military so that it would not need the might of the Uchiha Clan. I'm sure Sarutobi was prepared to mitigate the damage done to his forces and to conceal as much of the deed as possible from the outside world; though, I'm not so sure if he was ready for the full impact of the Massacre that Danzou ordered. Despite that, Konoha is still considered to be one of the most powerful of the Five Nations in canon, even after the Uchiha Massacre. I should have gone into greater detail about this, but I was initially attempting to rush through the chapters to get to the point I wanted (a feat that has obviously been unsuccessful). Hopefully this clears up some of the confusion.

As for the Chuunin Exam still appearing in the story, all I can do is ask for you to wait. It's true that the Chuunin Exams are a sign of peace between Nations. Naturally, some of you were skeptical as to why this would occur during wartime. Again, be a little patient. This chapter will explain a few of the details, but the next chapter will really delve into all of it.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 5 of _Naze?_, titled _Questions of Life_ (no, it's not going to be really angst...just moderately angst).

**A/N+**: Between Rice (Sound) Country and Waterfall Country, there is an unnamed country. I did some digging and I found data from an anime filler arc in Part I. The episode was about how this old ninja from the Hidden Heat Haze Village in Mountain Country had snuck into Konoha when Konoha and Heat Haze were at war (thirty years prior to the current story). Because of the proximity of this village with Konoha and because it is the closest unnamed country to Earth Country, I'm going to assume that it is Mountain Country. Because Hidden Heat Haze was wiped out by Hidden Valley just after they ended their war with Konoha, they won't be in my story.

"talking"

_Thoughts/memories_

Questions of Life

Naruto eyed the dead kunoichi with a grimace on his face. She had been a disgustingly easy kill. Worn out from fending off Suiton jutsu from his Ame comrades, the girl was in no condition to prevent Naruto from wrapping his arms around her head and swiftly slitting her throat with his kunai. She looked barely four years older than him.

"Move Genin!"

Naruto jumped slightly and hurriedly acknowledged his commander's orders with a quick "Hai sempai!" before leaping off the rock ledge of the mountain and down its side. He flitted across the surface as quickly as he could and soon caught up to his six comrades.

They moved as one entity, a mere shadow of the steadily rising dawn to the untrained eye of a villager or wandering traveler. Their feet padded softly against the rocks.

A movement.

Naruto's eyes snapped to the wispy and fragile swirl of a lizard as it scurried into its small home.

_Getting paranoid_, he thought blankly. Not that he could really help it. One of the many quirks of the swirls was that they always accumulated more thickly around living organisms than anything else. The bigger and more complex the life form, the greater the number of swirls around it. The movement of the swirls of a living thing also tended to be more frenetic, drawing Naruto's shinobi trained eyes to their source in a snapping swerve. This tended to be quite painful, especially if he was scanning the area and he suddenly detected a large number of enemies (or even animals). Still, one couldn't deny the usefulness of the ability.

Right now, however, Naruto couldn't give a damn about its utility. He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping to relieve the strain on them by shutting out the swirls' constant, dizzying motion. When he felt a slight sensation of relief, he opened them again, only to find himself running straight into a boulder.

With a startled gasp, he flipped over it. His hair brushed against the surface at the top of the massive stone as he sailed through the air, prompting him to speed up his flip until feet rested against the other side of the boulder. From there, he pushed himself into the air, rolled onto the ground, and then sprang onto his feet to resume his running.

_Forget this_, he thought angrily. He pulled the chakra from his eyes until the swirls disappeared, a furious scowl marring his visage as he did so.

Naruto was becoming tired of having to deactivate his eyes every fucking hour. Of course, if he didn't…he had idea what would happen. This was actually a good indicator of how much he really knew about his eyes: nothing. Neither Pain nor Konan provided an answer to his questions or made any effort to conduct additional tests. Instead, they merely told him to be patient while they researched any records that documented similar occurrences as his eye. Or so they _told _him. The memories of the four months since his first real mission ("real" being the adjective he used to describe any mission that involved killing) were vividly clear within his mind:

_Pain and Konan had seemed to avoid him, as if his assassination of Youjinbukai had tainted his being and made him unworthy of their presence. Even their subordinates avoided him, only responding to his presence with a curt nod. It wasn't nearly as bad as his life in the village, but it felt all too familiar to his fragile mind. Because of this (and the complete lack of anything remotely resembling entertainment for an eight-year-old child), Naruto had thrown himself into his training and studying. His days were spent running and leaping through the rain surrounding the mountains. His nights were consumed with reading. He did everything and anything to keep himself occupied. That wasn't too hard to do, considering the vast expanse of information Pain held within his library. _

_The knowledge contained within Pain's library seemed like a great tree, always growing and never willing to be conquered, with branches reaching in every direction. This knowledge did, in fact, encompass everything Naruto could imagine. They ranged from research documenting the fascinating intricacies of fuuinjutsu to histories of the Five Nations and the numerous advancements in shinobi technology they had made. Every week, a troupe of soldiers would wheel neatly organized stacks of books and scrolls into the library and carefully deposit them within their proper sections. _

_Where and whence they came, Naruto could only guess. All he cared about was that they were his to read. Pain forbade no book to Naruto's use, placing any and all form of knowledge within his capacity to study. Of these books—of the scrolls of ninjutsu and forbidden arts— Naruto was finding himself increasingly drawn towards fiction and the wondrous worlds it produced for him to delve into. Though he would never openly admit it, they provided the greatest escape from reality of all the books within the library. They gave him a place where he could fantasize about all the things he wanted to feel and enjoy. Love, laughter, happiness, tenderness—none of these, he found, existed within the cold, indifferent mountains. Konan and Pain had been dearer to him than he could have ever imagined during the few months they had trained him. When they spent time with him—when they helped him get over the shock of abandonment—he had never had to deal with being alone with his own thoughts. Now, the greatest contact with other people he had was with his teammates on missions and the only communication they shared was whatever pertained to the mission at hand. This was very depressing to him, for above all things he desired companionship._

_Naturally, the lack of this basic human necessity forced Naruto to further bury himself in the routine he had constructed for himself. When he awoke, he would head down to the library and read jutsu scrolls for several hours. Afterwards, he would go outside and practice the methods he had read about. This would go on until he was too tired to go on, which took a very long time. He would end his day by reading one of his many novels, though he would often fall asleep while doing so. It was a common occurrence for Naruto to wake up in the chair he had settled down to read in the previous night. If there was a mission, it would replace his training and most of his evening reading time, unless of course it far away and took several days to complete_

_This routine could not distract him completely, however, for he often found his training frustrating or his reading unsatisfying. Instead, as Naruto had gone on with this schedule, he had found himself looking forward to missions…and to the fighting they brought. Training and studying provided ways to distract himself from his loneliness, but the sheer lack of human contact was too reminiscent of Konoha for him to bear. Even the curt acknowledgment of his comrades was better than sitting in the library alone or practicing jutsu with only the rain as his company. There was also something else that he felt, something that seemed to be gaining dominance over his mind. _

_Killing had become quite common for Naruto. He was assigned to assassinate people on a weekly basis, if not every other day. The targets were rarely as important as Youjinbukai had been, mostly small-time commanders. Occasionally he would get a businessman or woman who refused to submit to the Akatsuki. The fact that they knew enough about the Akatsuki to actually be aware that they were resisting them was more than enough reason to prompt Pain to order their demise. They were probably the hardest to kill, for they had to be very influential and wealthy to have any knowledge of the Akatsuki; but they all died, one way or another caused him to experience a sensation he would never have thought he would feel for such a hateful deed: joy. Or perhaps it was anticipation. Whatever it was, Naruto felt it whenever he stalked a target, whenever he plunged his blade through their flesh, whenever he watched the life fade from their eyes…_

_It took him some time to realize he actually thought like this, but when he did, he was not dismayed or horrified. Instead, he felt, in some sick fashion, justified. He had suffered his entire life. Why shouldn't he be allowed to feel pleasure? What divine law said that his targets were allowed a good life while he drowned in loneliness? _

_Of course, he was beginning to suspect that this pleasure was derived from the feeling of power killing gave him. When he ended the life of another, he felt like he separated himself from normal human beings…like the citizens of Konoha. To Naruto, killing was starting to become something that separated him from the nameless masses in the villages. Killing made him feel more powerful than they were. Killing made him _better _than them. _

_He had tried to stop himself, of course, but every time he cut down an opponent, the happiness came roaring back. It might have started after the trauma of killing Youjinbukai. Or maybe it was the rejection he suffered through as a child and he would have felt this way even once he was allowed to start killing in Konoha. He would never know._

_But what was possibly more disturbing to him (or at least he thought it should have been disturbing to him) was that he was beginning to experience a sensation whenever he killed, a sensation buried deep within his heart. Naruto was starting to feel like his victims were the companions that he so badly needed to have. When they lay dying on the ground, their eyes searching frantically for a reason, all they saw was Naruto. He was the last person they ever bore witness to on this earth and in those final moments they clung to his presence as if he were their lifelong friend. The hatred and rage faded away and tears of grief, both at their own death and the horror of world which created such pain, leaked from their fading orbs. They latched on to Naruto's armor, frenetically grabbing at him as if he was their anchor to life. These people, who would never have given him a second glance had they been living their normal lives, suddenly needed him more than any other. The delusion of death removed all notions of vengeance and wrath; they needed him to tell them that their lives wouldn't be forgotten, that their existence wasn't meaningless…that their deaths were worth something to somebody. In short, they wanted Naruto to lie to them. They wanted him to conceal the awful truth that their lives, their hatreds, their successes, their fears, their happiness—everything that made them alive—was meaningless to the world. In those final moments, they _needed _him…and it was the greatest feeling in the world._

Luscious green, illuminated by the dawn, broke Naruto's reverie in a swift flash. The forests of Rice Country stood proudly before their small company as they raced through the swiftly diminishing rocks and boulders. Their target lay somewhere inside and Naruto, deep within himself, felt tendrils of pleasure wrap around his heart.

* * *

He unsheathed his blade from the man's gullet and unconsciously smiled at the smooth gushing sound that followed it. The merchant had been far too lax in their choice of security guards. This point was emphasized when the head of one of said guards flew past Naruto's face.

He followed its progress for a moment with his eyes, but soon returned his attention to the dead family in front of him. To his left lay the target in question, whose face was a bloody pulp from the innumerable punches and kicks of his Kage Bunshin. As if to emphasize the man's a death, a large slash across his throat smiled up at Naruto eerily. The bodies of the wife and children were much better off. They had mostly been protected by the merchant, who foolishly threw himself in front of them to protect them from Naruto. When he was incapacitated, the wife took his place and shielded her children with her arms, as if some powerful divine spirit would recognize her plight and grace her with the power to protect her loved ones.

It didn't. Naruto had swiftly gutted her and then cut down her children, the eldest of whom looked barely a year younger than him. When the family was dead, Naruto had moved on to the slowly dying merchant and began interrogating him about his contacts, source of money…any information that could have helped him discover the Akatsuki's existence. This was made difficult by the fact that the man had had little to lose, besides his life of course. In the end, Naruto and some of his jutsu had "convinced" the merchant to part with the information. After he was finished with the questioning, he allowed himself to revel in the helpless look in the merchant's eyes. It was almost unconscious and even when he was aware of it, the feeling was too pleasurable—to _emotional_—to stop. The urge to gently massage the man's cheek and whisper tender words of comfort was too powerful to resist now.

Once the man died, Naruto began examining the surrounding area for any survivors. No one could know of their existence. It's why he killed the merchant's family.

Like all of Rice country, the road they had ambushed the trader's caravan on was surrounded by elegant hills covered in lush grass and beautiful flowers. The sky was a beautiful azure with ethereal strands of cloud providing enough cover from the sun to make the day truly enjoyable. A breeze, as gentle and calm as the bodies over which it blew, caressed Naruto's skin with the touch of an angel.

_Such a beautiful day_, Naruto thought calmly as he scanned the now destroyed carriages. Seeing nothing with his naked eye, he activated his eyes. A grimace disrupted the tranquility of his thoughts as his eyes once again accepted the burden of the swirls.

"How long will I have to put up with this," he muttered to himself, the pain in his eyes returning as if he'd never shut his eyes off in the first place.

Ignoring it (though not without several silent curses at the Kyuubi), Naruto resumed his search. The swirls shifted and swayed over the broken wood and bodies of the dead caravan, giving no sign that anything was alive. The verdant grass was alive, of course, but it was not his enemy. If it had been for some reason, he didn't know if he could do it. The vast expanse of flowers and soft stems radiated life. The swirls clustered around them like heavenly pollen.

_It's like walking in stars_, he mused contentedly, the temptation to gently touch one of the beautiful creatures strong in his mind and stronger still because of the irrepressible curiosity of children that killing had not yet ruined for him.. That was how he had come to view plants. It's how he viewed all life for that matter. Before he had gained his ability, the things around him seemed ordinary and unworthy of anything more than the slightest glance. A mountain, an impossibly large tree—things like this had impressed Naruto only because their size forced him to pay attention to them. With his new eyes, however, everything was magnificent and unique. He could see every bit of life within a tree or a plant or even a rock. He did not yet understand how organisms could reside on a rock besides moss, especially since he couldn't see them with the naked eye. But even so, they blazed with the same light as everything else; yet, like every other life form, it was slightly different than any other kind. It was as if he was looking at a panoply of infinite variations on the color of light and each swirl, made to look like orbs of light because of the small size of the objects they moved around, was as beautiful as the last.

Naruto glanced around him and realized he had walked to the last carriage in the caravan.

_Huh. Must have zoned out there._

He gave it a once over with his eyes to be safe and, finding nothing, went to move on his way. A sound, barely audible even in the silence of the valley, drew his attention in a start. Naruto whipped out two kunai, with his left hand holding one horizontally by his face as a guard and two of his right fingers cocking the blade back in preparation to throw it.

For a brief moment, he wondered if he looked dashing in his grey Ame armor, body positioned in the perfect battle pose.

_Niiiice. You just keep that up while the enemy cuts your pretty armor and face to shreds._

Self-depreciation out of the way, Naruto cautiously analyzed the last carriage where the sound had originated from. He supposed it served him right for not checking it thoroughly.

Naruto glanced around, his eyes narrowed in concentration. He unconsciously rubbed the handle of his guarding kunai with his finger. Normally, he would have dismissed the sound as an accident. Not so in this case, considering the noise sounded disconcertingly similar to a groan.

Slowly edging himself towards the carriage, Naruto examined the area cautiously. His eyes followed the movement of the swirls with practiced speed, every motion they made drawing his eyes towards what might be life. Before he knew it, his feet were at the destroyed carriage's edge. The swirls gave no sign that human life resided within the carriage…or anywhere near it. All he saw was a pile of burnt and splintered wood with several bodies strewn across it.

_What did I hear then?_

"H-h-help…"

His muscles, honed from battle, instinctively sent the kunai whizzing towards the source of the voice. A loud _thunk_ greeted his ears, signaling that he had hit nothing but wood.

Naruto resisted the temptation to switch his guarding kunai to his right hand. Ambidextrousness was a useful quality to have, especially for a ninja. He had been attempting to train his left hand for a few weeks now. What better time to practice than against a helpless, most likely mortally wounded enemy?

Keeping back the bile that formed at this thought, Naruto slowly and carefully made his way through the carriage's remains, eyes desperately searching the swirls for signs of life.

_Shit! Why aren't they picking up the source of that voice? Is there a—_

Naruto froze, his foot hanging precariously in the air. Underneath said foot was the still form of a girl with violet and mangled hair, her small hand clutching desperately onto a kunai that was poised to slice open the front arch of Naruto's floating foot.

Needless to say, Naruto was quite surprised, but not only because he was in danger. The swirls gave little to no sign that she was alive. If she hadn't been right in front of him, he wouldn't have even known she existed.

The reason for this came as soon as Naruto looked her over. Never before had he seen such a wretched and pitiful creature in his life. He didn't even think he'd looked this bad when the villagers had beaten him up. Every visible portion of her body was covered in gashes, bruises, and small dots that looked oddly similar to tiny puncture wounds. Her face was just as bad, if not worse. The gashes there were older and far more severe. Their age was evidenced by the great swaths of dried blood that covered most of her face.

Easily knocking her kunai out of the way with his foot, Naruto bent down and gently flipped her onto her back. She immediately attempted to break free, but her efforts were but a twitch to Naruto.

With her face staring into the sky Naruto finally was able to look her over.

An unbidden thought suddenly came to him, _Maybe she's going to die!_

Naruto gladly let the bile rise up his throat. How could he—how _dare _he think that?

He suddenly found himself bent over the girl's face, his breath virtually non-existent as he stared into her closed, blackened eyelids.

Silently…secretly…deep within his heart, Naruto shook with anticipation. This girl, on the cusp of death, would profess her soul to him and he would be her—

"Get the…fuck out of my face…asshole…"

_Wha…?_

Naruto gaped at her. The girl, her mouth lightened by a pained smirk despite the vulgarity of her words, glared back.

Suddenly her eyes fluttered. Droplets of blood splattered over Naruto's face as she hacked it up, her body heaving terribly with the effort. When it passed, she breathed…and then breathed again. Her eyes were half covered by eyelids that Naruto knew had to be as heavy as a boulder.

Pity began crawling into his heart; but then, the girl's weakness vanished as if it had never been and she returned to glaring at him.

_It's just like with Youjinbukai_, he realized as he stared into her defiant face, _but her eyes…they have no death in them. Every one of my targets has accepted their fate, or they pretended to defy it until the very end when they realized the doom laid before them. But this one…I can see only life. How can she have such spirit when her body is all but dead?_

A prick to his jugular shattered his thoughts like glass. The girl shakily held a kunai to his throat, its razor edge ready to slice open his throat at any moment. Naruto knew he should have been dead. And she knew it too, if the victorious smile on her face was anything to go by. Now he owed her his life.

Naruto could have cursed and would have had the blade in the girl's hand not suddenly drop from her hand. The girl's head lolled to one side and her eyes closed to welcome the peace of unconsciousness.

At least, Naruto hoped it was unconsciousness.

Panic as abrupt as the girl's kunai seized a hold of him and he hurriedly placed two fingers next to her neck to see if she had a pulse.

_Can't use my eyes—fuck! There weren't hardly any swirls around her. She'll die!_

Without thinking, Naruto scooped the girl in his arms and blasted away towards their base camp. The only warning his team had of his departure was a loud "**MOVE!**"

As Naruto sped through the soft grass, it suddenly occurred to him that he had yelled at his superiors to bring an unknown girl, who apparently had ninja training, back to their base camp so he could use up their resources to heal her.

_What the hell am I doing? I'm supposed to kill her, not—_

One of the girl's hands suddenly gripped Naruto's arm in a vice-like hold. A moan, as wretched as any Naruto had ever heard, escaped her lips.

Naruto sighed, his feet unconsciously leading him up a tree and onto a branch. _I can't kill her. Not now, anyway. If she has to die then Pain can do it himself. Besides, she's barely older than me. What threat could she pose to us?_

The thought abruptly hit him that, by that logic, _he _wasn't much of a help to their cause. Gritting his teeth, Naruto forced his thoughts in another direction.

As a result, he found himself thinking about a strange aspect of her appearance, _Why doesn't she have pupils in her eyes?_

_

* * *

_

A tinge of pain alerted Naruto to a small cut on his left thumb from his. Sparing but a glance at the slowly reddening flesh and the fingernail that had caused the wound, he returned his attention to the heavily bandaged form lying prostrate on a stone table.

They were in one of the various caverns that the Ame forces used as hideouts. Had Naruto been bored, he might have wondered at the great size of the time-worn rocks that populated the cave. At the moment, however, Naruto was far from bored.

After carrying the girl back to their base, Naruto had hurriedly asked three of their medic-nin to heal her. Naturally, the healers were skeptical of the request, especially since it came from some random Genin. Before Naruto knew what he was doing, three Kage Bunshin appeared behind the medic-nin and pressed kunai to their necks. Fortunately, there was no one at the base to defend them and the medic-nin themselves were not fighters.

Now, Naruto waited anxiously for the verdict. If his first assessment of her health was anything to go by, it was unlikely that she'd live.

The thought made his stomach flip over.

_Why do I feel like this_, he asked himself for what felt like the millionth time. _It's just some girl. Not like I haven't killed people my age before. But…there's something about her. The way she just ignored her death…why didn't she cling to life like the others? I…I have to know!_

One of the medic-nin was suddenly standing before him, his mask failing to conceal the stern, yet sympathetic look in his eyes.

_Is she dead_, Naruto thought fearfully, unconsciously gulping to emphasize his uncertainty.

"Shinobi-san," the medic-nin began, addressing Naruto with what he felt was the proper term of respect for someone who was willing to risk punishment for the life of another, "we have done all we can to treat the girl. But…her wounds are very serious, indicating that she as seen battle before. It is most likely she is a shinobi. This hypothesis is validated further by with your account."

Naruto nodded. He had told them about the girl's ability with the kunai. Of course, he had left out the other details.

"Because of this," Naruto sucked in his breath sharply, "we feel the girl will never be a shinobi again."

He stared at the medic-nin for a moment. "So…she'll be all right?"

The man nodded, "Yes, she will live. However, her muscles along her arms and legs—"

Naruto tuned out the rest of what he said, sighing tiredly as his worry evaporated. He didn't care if she could fight or not. In fact, he was happy this turned out the way it did. There would be less of a chance for her to be killed if she was unable to go to battle and she couldn't hope to do anything other than answer Naruto's questions if she was too frail to leave.

_I'll get my answers. I have to know how a person, feebler and more fragile than almost anyone I've killed, could have the will to never give up in the face of death. I have to know…_

_

* * *

_

"Why is she here Naruto?"

The blonde-haired child in question stared back into Konan's eyes defiantly, "She intrigued me."

Konan blinked, then turned around and walked away, leaving only a parting statement for Naruto to dwell upon, "Do what you will; but if she is useless to us, kill her."

Naruto glared after slowly diminishing form, _Don't even have time to yell at me, huh? Whatever. I'll try not waste too much of your fucking—_

He stopped. What was he thinking? Of course Konan wouldn't have time for one of his little projects. She was involved in a campaign to take down the armies of one of the most powerful shinobi in the land after all.

Naruto quietly pushed open the door to his room, cringing as its stone mass scraped against the cavern's floor. Peeking over the door's side, he caught sight of the girl lying face up on his bed. She was motionless enough to make one wonder whether she was alive or not, but Naruto could spot the slight rising and falling of her chest as she breathed in the moist air of the cave.

A ghost of a smile appeared on his face as he marveled at the girl's tranquility. Peace and contentment radiated from within her as she slept. Naruto stepped forward, barely noticing the wet patter his sandaled foot made upon the ground.

The girl's eyes snapped open in an instant and her hand shot down towards her side, as if reaching for a kunai.

Naruto froze mid-step, his eyes wide in surprise.

After a moment of silence, both of them seemingly trapped in their positions in nervous anticipation, the girl slowly turned her head towards him, locking him with the same stare that had transfixed him the first time they met. She stared and stared…and stared. Those pupil-less orbs never left him, following every uncomfortable shift in his posture and face.

Finally, Naruto stood straight up and sheepishly scratched the back of his head, all the while thinking, _What the hell do I say now? I just wanted to—why _did_ I come in here? Oh right! To talk about life and the meaning of…it…and what…not—oookay, not a good time. I just gotta break the ice. Maybe a greeting. Yeah! "Hi, I'm the shinobi who pulled you out of the carriage and saved your life…after blowing it up of course. Ah HELL! Fuck it, I'll just wing it. What could go wrong? _

"Uh, hi! My name's Na—"

"Get the hell away from me you spiky-haired pervert."

"…Wha—"

"You heard me. I remember your ugly mug hanging over me," her eyes narrowed dangerously, "and I have a pretty good idea what you were thinkin'."

Naruto gawked at her. Her last sentence, however, dulled his amazement.

Head cocked slightly in confusion, Naruto asked, "What do you mean?"

Anko looked at him for a moment unblinkingly, her glare never wavering in its intensity, before querying blankly, "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

Naruto felt his cheeks redden slightly, "Well, I mean, um…m-maybe you're just not making it clear enough!"

For the first time since she had woken up, the girl allowed a brilliant grin to brighten her face. She asked mockingly, laughter evident in her voice, "You have no idea? Heh heh, you're such a little baby!"

Embarrassment quickly turned into anger, "Shut up! It's—it's not my fault you're incoherent!"

"Inco-what," the girl asked suddenly, her once sneering face scrunched up in confusion.

Naruto couldn't keep the superior smirk off his face, "_In_-_co_-_here-nt_…means you didn't say something clearly _baka_!"

It was her turn to blush this time, though she bore her humiliation slightly better than Naruto had, "Tch, only a loser would hide behind something as stupid as big words!"

Naruto eyes widened comically and his jaw jutted out in a furious scowl, _That little-oh this is _not _what I was expecting! This is so…so…_

"There ya go gaping again! Damn, you're like some little old fish…Ha! Fish-face! That's you're new name!"

"That makes no sense!"

Her grin turned feral, "No surprise it wouldn't make sense to a _child_ like you. Bet you can't even fight…heh, you probably wait till the grown-ups take the enemies down then go around taking the easy kills. Oh wait, I'm sorry, you can't even do that. You _stare _at them."

Amidst her wicked laughter, rage began building up within Naruto, _She's so CHILDISH! That infuriating little wench! Here I go and save her pathetic hide and she can't even thank me! She needs to pay…_

Unfortunately, Naruto's lack of social interaction for four months prevented him from understanding the complex intricacies of conversation that the girl was currently engaging in. Name-calling was a mere game to most children, the words they flung at each other meaningless He would not tolerate any slight against himself…not anymore.

Glowering furiously, Naruto uttered, "You're just lucky I saved your ass when I did. Not that it did much good, though, seein' how you're useless now…"

_That _got exactly the reaction he was looking for.

"W-w-what," she asked shakily, her confident, mocking grin suddenly transformed into one of terror.

Unaware of the depths his words reached, Naruto sneered and replied, "I said you're useless. You'll never be a shinobi aga—"

He froze, mouth still slightly ajar in preparation to continue his verbal bombardment. To his utter astonishment and dismay, tears began pouring down her face. What disturbed him the most, however, was that she wasn't sobbing or exhibiting any normal sign of hurt that he himself would have expressed in such a situation (not that he ever had of course).

Instead, she stared silently off into the distance, her tears the only testament that she was still alive.

"Um," Naruto began hesitantly, unsure of how to rectify the situation, "I-I didn't mean it…you know? I'm sure you're kinda—"

"Get out."

The words were uttered simply and quietly, yet they carried more hate and force than Naruto had ever known. He didn't know what to do, so he did nothing, torn between his two equally powerful instincts: flee in guilt or stay and try to work past the problem.

_No, I've gotta stay. What else am I going to do? I need somebody—_anybody_—to talk to, to laugh with, to _live _with…_

He had no idea why this need for friendship was so strong within him. He had even less of an idea why he'd brought the girl back with him. Maybe he wanted to recreate the stories he read, where the hero saved the life of a person, emotionally or physically, and became their lifelong friend and companion. Maybe he was trying to fill the void that Sakura and Sasuke had left so cruelly within his heart. Maybe…

"Listen, I'm sorry for what I said. I…I'm not used to someone else's company." He looked down, suddenly fascinated by the different formations of the cave floor, "But, I want—I saved your life, there's no denying that. I don't know why I did it, but," he glanced up at her, pleased to see that her attention was focused on him, "I can guess why and I think it was because you have something that no one else I've ever met has."

Her stare as rigid as her glare had been, she asked somberly, "And what might that be?"

_ So many things_, he thought, _but I don't know what they are. I can't name them or place them; but when you grinned at me whilst you lay _dying_, it reminded me of…me, or what I could be like._

But Naruto felt too scared to say something so personal to a girl he had just insulted (apparently in the worse way possible). Instead, he replied, half-truthfully, "I don't know. You just seemed," he smiled mischievously, "useful."

Her eyes, once dull and lifeless, suddenly snapped onto him, curiosity and wonder glowing within them like a thousand stars.

Before she could say anything, however, Naruto turned around and made his way towards the door, his right arm raised in farewell, "I'll visit you again later. You should get some rest."

As he reached the open doorway, Naruto's mind buzzed with excitement, _She didn't get mad! Oh yes I am so cool! With my natural eloquence and aplomb, I, the great Naruto, can overcome any—_

The excitement, the confidence, the joy—all of it came crashing down with Naruto's body as his foot caught hold of loose rock, sending him careening to the hard floor.

"O-o-ow," he muttered, his voice muffled by the cold and wet floor that covered his entire face.

Naruto picked himself up, but as he did, he heard the boisterous and musical laughter of the girl, bringing a small smile to his face.

"By the way," she called out suddenly, her natural assurance already shining brightly within her voice, "my name's Anko."

* * *

"DAMMIT!"

Naruto winced at Anko's curse as she wrapped her arms around her stomach, frantically trying to suppress the bile that he knew was threatening to burst out of her.

"Anko, are you gonna be—"

"_I'm fine_," she spat venomously, her furious glare silencing any protests he might have had.

"O-okay," he muttered weakly, waving his arms up in front of him to placate her fury.

The two of them were currently standing at the edge one of Naruto's practice lakes in their increasingly hopeless effort to help Anko get past her injuries. The decision to do so had been an easy one for Naruto, but enacting it was another matter. Pain and Konan were naturally suspicious about allowing the key to their hopes to be alone with some unknown girl who apparently had been trained as a kunoichi and initially refused the request. Anko also seemed wary about the idea of training with him alone. Their conversation had apparently not been momentous enough to remove all of her fears, though what she might have been afraid of he had no idea.

Nevertheless, Naruto remained adamant and, after a great deal of nagging, whining, and other such childish endeavors, finally convinced Pain and Konan to allow him to train with Anko…if not with several additional clauses.

He cast a glance behind him with his eyes active and frowned at the small battalion of shinobi patiently eyeing them.

_Are they really necessary_, he thought warily. He turned his attention back to Anko and frowned at what he saw. She had recovered somewhat, but she still was still squeezing her stomach.

_Every time she tries to use chakra, _Naruto pondered critically, the matter of the Ame nin forgotten for the moment,_ her hands immediately go to her midriff. I wonder…_

"Hey Anko," he called out, drawing her pained gaze onto him, "let me see your torso!"

"_What _was that?"

Naruto paled considerably, "Y-y-your chest and stomach. Y-you know, so I can, um, analy—"

"If I wasn't injured," she interrupted coldly, "I'd let you analyze my fist as a knocks your teeth down your throat.

Naruto's eyes became dots and he could feel beads of sweat begin to form on his face. He breathed, then mumbled with all of his courage, "Um, I j-just wanted to s-see what was h-hurting you?"

He realized it was more of a question than a statement (and that the stuttering sounded strangely familiar), but that was mainly to do to with his lack of confidence in its adherence to Anko's strange rules. This anxiety was exacerbated by the glare Anko continued to give him.

It was quite surprising then when Anko grinned brightly and replied, "Okay!"

Unconsciously sighing in relief, Naruto waited for Anko to walk over to him and remove her medic shirt, which had been graciously given to her by the medic nin who had given her treatment.

Naruto had no idea if the incalculable number of bruises and lesions he had seen all across Anko's face and limbs also spread to her torso, but if they had, then he would have to remember to recommend the medic nin to Pain for promotion. There were little to no signs that Anko had ever even been in the horrible condition that Naruto had found her in. The only indication that she might have received any serious injury at all was the small, oddly-shaped bruise on her neck. Curiously, the swirls Naruto saw around it seemed to move much faster than they did around any other part of her body.

_Is this the source of her pain_, he questioned mentally, cautiously rubbing his finger over the mark.

"Ah! Cold hands!"

Naruto retracted his digit immediately in shock, "S-sorry

Anko waved her hand dismissively, "'S okay. Just surprised me is all."

Glancing once more before proceeding, Naruto returned to studying the mark.

_Hmm. The medic nin said she'd never be a shinobi again, but he made it seem like it was from her injuries. This is definitely not in that category. This _thing _might be drawing on her chakra, but as to why or how…I have no idea. I need to see it in action before I can make any further evaluations._

"Anko," he said suddenly, ignoring the surprised expression on her face at the directness in his voice, "I need you to try what you were doing before, only this time, try to draw out your chakra as slowly as possible. Think you can do that?"

"No," came her angry reply, "that's the problem! I can't draw out _any _chakra or I'll—"

She stopped, her eyes wide and frightened.

"What's wrong," Naruto asked worriedly, quickly directing his attention to the mark.

The fear in her eyes only intensified, "I-it's—I mean, it's just…"

Her fingers bunched together hesitantly as her voice trailed off, her eyes following her train of thought up into the sky.

"Anko, I need to know what's wrong. How else can I help you—"

"You can't," she snapped at him suddenly, her face in a dreadful snarl, "and you never will!"

Naruto felt like she had slapped him. What had done wrong this time? All he wanted was to help her…

"Why can't I make it better," he asked, unable to keep a slight tone of anger out of his voice.

She looked down and bit her lip. "O-O—"

Anko took a deep breath, "_He _made it that way…"

Confusion blossomed within Naruto's mind.

"Who made it that way," he asked gently, trying not to make her angry again.

Quickly picking up her shirt off of the ground and draping back onto her torso, Anko shook her head and replied numbly, in a voice that, for the first time since Naruto had met her, sounded very much like a child's, "Just forget about it."

Naruto stared at her as if seeing at her for the first time, "How can I forget about it if it's hurting you like this?"

"P-please…"

The voice that came out of her mouth was that of a frightened, beaten creature. There was no trace of the defiant, strong-willed girl that he had found in the soft hills of Rice Country. She even looked different. Her purple hair, once vibrant and eye-catching, now seemed dull and ragged. The face that had once stared back at him with the spirit of a Valkyrie appeared thin and hollow to him now, as if something had sucked all of the energy and vim out of it.

"Anko…"

"Just…just drop it Naruto. Plea—"

"_Don't _say that again!"

Anko's body twitched like she'd been struck, "W-w-what?"

He didn't know what he was doing or why he felt such fury well up within him. All he did know was that he didn't want to see Anko look like that _ever _again.

"You've got a problem," he said bluntly, "so we're going to fix it. Got it?"

"B-but—"

"That mark on your neck," he said quickly, brushing her doubt aside easily, "is putting a drain on your chakra. I need to try and perform the jutsu you were attempting earlier. I'll see where the chakra's going with my eyes, allowing me to know if the mark is draining you."

Anko finally found her voice, "It won't work Naruto!

"Why not?"

She sighed and replied a little more reservedly, "It's not just draining my chakra. It takes all that I have and makes it…different."

Again, Naruto's curiosity was piqued, "What do you mean 'different'?"

She shrugged, "I-I don't know. It's just different, you know?"

"No, I really don't," he replied blankly.

She turned away in thought, her mind temporarily distracted from her depression. After several moments like this, she replied, "It feels really, _really _good; but at the same, it's kinda wrong. Like, when I try to use a jutsu, I feel it," she motioned towards the mark with her thumb, "seep into my head and…and _talk _to me in _his _voice."

Anko grabbed her head in between her hands and shook it, as if trying to forcibly remove the thing that was tormenting her.

"I…I can't stand it when _he's _in there. Nothing ever makes sense. O-only his voice is there within me, telling me to give in…"

She finally let go of her head and looked up at Naruto, her eyes containing a gleam of fanatic energy within them. Her voice a stark contrast from the shaking, frightened tone that she'd adopted since Naruto had questioned her about the mark, Anko declared ominously, "But that'll never happen. I'll never go back to _him_!"

Anko spat viciously into the ground, nearly making Naruto jump up in surprise. He eyed her sadly, noting the terrible change the conversation had brought upon. The girl he had known for—how long now? Three days? Far too short a time to be delving into the most horrid nightmares of her past. Whatever this "_he_" did was obviously something that not even the girl who mocked him in the face of her own death could get past. Not alone, anyway.

"It's ingrained into me," she continued, her voice carrying a helpless tone to it, "it's a _part_ of me." She looked down at the ground sadly and then looked up at Naruto again, her eyes shimmering with tears, "How the hell—"

She stopped abruptly. Naruto was grinning maliciously from ear to ear, a very Kitsune-like glint in his eye.

"What the hell are you smiling about blondie? Something about what I'm sayin' funny to you?"

Naruto mentally sighed.

_I have a feeling this is going to be painful, but I'm willing to endure that to get her better. She isn't going to pull her all into the jutsu. Before she was just trying to do it by herself and had no chakra with which to execute it. She's too afraid of it to let it out. In that case, I'll have to force her to confront. I just hope it doesn't _

Forcing his grin wider, he replied in the meanest and most mocking voice he could muster, "Yeah, it is. I can't help it anymore. You just look so darn cute when you're in an emotional and psychological quandary. Oh wait, I forgot you didn't know _big _words. Probably got your head banged in when _he_ did all that shit to ya."

Inwardly, Naruto was punching himself in the gut with a cement block. Anko's face had become bright red and small tears were beginning to form in her eyes. It was the look on her entire face, though, that made Naruto want to die. Betrayal, shock, hurt, fear—feelings he knew all too well. Still, he had to keep going. There was no other immediate option.

He turned his grin into a feral smirk, "In fact, I think you might _liked_ it."

"W-what?"

The smirk turned into a full-fledged sneer, "Aw, did I touch a sore spot?"

"S-s-stop it…"

Naruto's hopes soared.

"Didn't quite catch that. Something about enjoying having all those little holes poked into that weak and tender flesh of yours—"

"I SAID STOP IT!"

She was on him faster than even Naruto could see, her fists smashing into his face with a force only chakra could give.

Her punches flew as fast as the curses from her mouth, mixing into a strange canopy for Naruto's dazed senses, "YOU," her fist crashed into his already pummeled cheek, "BASTARD," then his jaw, "YOU…LIED…TO…ME," and four punches into his nose.

Naruto's nose cracked at its bridge as her fist connected with it, sending blood spewing across his face.

Anko's barrage didn't stop and neither did her words, which contained more pain and personal suffering than Naruto had ever heard or felt before. Naruto had no idea how he was going to maintain consciousness, let alone see what the mark was doing to Anko's body. Nevertheless, he activated his eyes and strove to see the swirls of the mark. This was quite difficult considering the massive swirl activity around Anko's relentless fists. He was barely able to keep his chakra up to defend himself. It was almost inhuman how fast they were going.

_Wait, that's it! The mark has to be—_

"**I HATE YOU!**"

Her fist drew back, the swirls making her hand appear like a brilliant golden tornado. Transfixed and in awe of its beauty, Naruto barely noticed it soar down onto him.

And then…the light disappeared. Pain momentarily seared Naruto's eyes, blinding him with a light wholly unlike that of the swirls. It cleared up quickly, however, and Naruto soon found himself staring at Anko's fist, mere centimeters from his face.

Quickly forcing himself to ignore what could have happened, Naruto looked past the fist at Anko and found only terror on her face…as well as Pain standing directly behind her with a single finger resting on the mark on her neck.

At first, Naruto thought Pain had performed some advanced jutsu to halt Anko's rage and he would have continued to think so had not Pain emotionlessly pronounced, "Your eyes seem to hold endless surprises for us, much like yourself…Naruto."

Keeping his gaze on Anko, who now refused to even look at him, Naruto asked, "What do you mean?"

Pain removed his finger from Anko's terrified form and glanced at her momentarily, before replying, "The pupils of your eyes became slits and the girl's markings disappeared. Whether the abnormality of her markings' disappearance was a result of your eyes or merely a coincidence is unknown. Nevertheless, the possibilities intrigue me."

To his immense surprise, Naruto didn't feel the delight he thought he would at finally finding a clue as to what his eyes were capable of. Months of training and all he was concerned with was the trembling girl in front of him. Was he so desperate for companionship that he clung to a girl he had known for a paltry length of time like a starving man to food? Would that even matter if she never wanted to be near him again?

_So many questions…always there are questions_, he thought grimly.

"Anko, I—"

He glanced at Pain nervously, only to find the man had turned his back to them, seemingly content to stare across the lake as the rain pattered down against the land.

Eternally grateful to his mentor, Naruto began speaking again, "Anko, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said at all."

"Then why did you say them," came her eerily quiet query.

Cringing, Naruto responded, all the while praying that his sincerity was made apparent through his words, "I needed to get you to, um, get past…your…fear?"

The words sounded so incredibly hollow to Naruto that he couldn't help but abandon them in a question. He had no experience in consoling others, especially those whom he had hurt. This was mostly because he would never have _dared _to act so cruelly to anyone who might have graced him with their friendship.

But that was his past, not this confusing and disorienting present where someone lay psychologically wounded in front of him as a result of his words.

His anxiety doubled when Anko finally looked at him, the rain flattening her hair against her face, "You…you were like _him_."

Naruto felt his hope disappear in a flash. His eyes wide in desperation, Naruto yelled amidst the rain, "Anko please! I didn't mean it! I just…I just didn't know how else to—"

She turned away from him, her gaze upon the ever moist mud of Ame.

Before he knew what he was doing, Naruto buried himself in the mud, his arms and legs flailed out before him in a gesture of submission. He wasn't weeping liking a child. Murder had robbed him of that luxury. All that he had to show of himself to Anko was his willingness to go to any lengths to earn her forgiveness. At that moment, audacity and foolishness seized him and he would have been perfectly willing to die for her. He cared not that Pain stood mere feet away from him. The thought of going on without some kind of friend was now so repulsive and unbearable a notion that he had no idea how he'd survived this long.

He waited and waited, his face buried in the cold mud, for what seemed like an insanely long time.

Finally, something grabbed his damp and dirty hair and yanked his head out of the amorphous substance. Through the mud and grime, he saw Anko glaring at him.

_Here it comes_, he thought, almost grateful for Anko's justice to rain down upon him.

Naruto closed his eyes and once again waited.

To his shock, Anko merely said, "Open your eyes baka."

Doing as she told him, Naruto opened his eyes to see Anko still glaring, but this time bearing a wry smirk on her face.

Seeing she had his attention, Anko asked bluntly, "Do you think a few insults would make me go suicidal or something?"

Naruto's eyes widened, an action only emphasized by the growing pain in his scalp, "But you just sai—"

She turned away scornfully, "You look into things way too much ya emo."

He squinted his eyes, "Emo?"

A light blush on her face, Anko sheepishly replied, "I actually don't know what it is. I heard this orange-haired girl calling the two-headed freak that and I figured—"

Naruto gasped a little, but not in surprise at her mention of a two-headed freak. He was merely anticipating the rivulets of blood that he was positive would soon run down his face as a result of his scalp being ripped off.

"Sorry," Anko exclaimed, releasing Naruto's hair as she did so.

"AH!"

Of course, Anko had not taken into account the intriguing power of gravity, unintentionally letting Naruto face fall back into the mud.

Raising his head out of the filth, Naruto gave her the fiercest glare he could muster. To his dismay, it only caused her to burst out into wild laughter.

"Looks good on ya blond boy," she gasped out, grabbing her stomach as her laughter continued.

Smirking, Naruto waited for Anko's fit to pass. When it finally did, his smirk had faded and he was prepared for a question that he had no desire to ask.

"Are you really okay?"

She shrugged, "I'll get over it. I mean, I get why you did it and I probably woulda done the same thing…only better."

Not wishing to discover the meaning behind this last statement (or the wicked smirk on Anko's face), Naruto quickly replied, "So we're still friends?"

He gulped when Anko's eyes widened in shock.

_Did I go to fast_, he thought anxiously. _I fucked it up again. Why do I—_

"Sure."

Naruto blinked.

"What was that," he asked.

"I said we're friends. But," she looked up in thought, then suddenly grinned and returned her attention to him, "let me know when you're going to be a prick in order to help me, okay?"

Naruto had no idea how a person could be a prick, but given the joy he felt at Anko's acknowledgment of their friendship, he didn't care.

Grinning freely and happily, he replied, "Thank you Anko."

A sudden wave of dizziness took hold of him and he found his head incredibly and inconveniently heavy.

"You all right Naru—hey Naruto!"

He cringed at the volume of her words.

"Loud…" he moaned.

Two strong hands suddenly hoisted him up off of the ground and onto something that felt like a shoulder. Opening his eyes a fraction, he caught a glimpse of orange hair and a black cloak. Anko was looking up at him in concern.

_Oh, just Pain_, he thought sleepily. Naruto prepared to drift off when Pain's voice broke through his tranquility. He said, apparently to Anko, "Do not worry about his safety. He is merely exhausted from his efforts. I am afraid this will be a common occurrence for him. I will begin training him again…and you as well, if you wish it. You seem to be important to Naruto, possibly enough to make him stronger. What do you think of this matter?"

Through his increasingly blurring vision, Naruto saw Anko blush and look away, her small legs somehow keeping up with Pain's pace. After a moment of deliberation, she replied, a grin on her face that made a less drowsy part of Naruto proud, "Definitely!"

"Good," Pain responded, "then we shall begin training as soon you are adequately prepared to engage in chakra activities. This will work out well. His drive will only be increased by your…encouragement."

The call of unconsciousness finally wrapped him in its dark womb, but before he faded into sleep one thought made itself into the forefront of Naruto's mind, _I have a friend…_

_

* * *

_

**A/N****: **Hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be four years later and will encompass the Chuunin Exams. I plan to make this a pretty long arc, but with shorter chapters, leading to shorter times between updates. This is serious stuff for Naruto's development and I made the chapters long mainly because I wanted to make what he went through as meaningful as I could. Naruto's Kekkei Genkai will be explained fully during this time. Also, he's going to participate as an Ame nin, so don't worry about him betraying Pain and Konan. They are far too important to him. However, it will be interesting seeing what happens when he encounters Sasuke and Sakura…in disguise of course. Again, I hope this chapter was enjoyable and I hope you continue reading (and reviewing). By the way, I really, really appreciate reviews. It doesn't take that long and it helps me make my writing better. So please review and provide me with as much constructive criticism as you can.

Thanks,

Oramo


	6. Genesis

**A/N****: **Hey guys, thanks for the reviews. I've been looking forward to writing this set of chapters for a long time and I hope it shows here. This chapter is set during the Chuunin Exams, meaning it has been four years since the last chapter. Naruto and Anko have grown a lot stronger; however, as I said before, this will not be a Super Naruto fic. Naruto will be nowhere near powerful enough to take on Kakashi or an opponent of comparable strength. He will be more powerful than he was in canon, though, and his Kekkei Genkai will play a major part of it. I think I might have to make everyone stronger than their canon counterparts in order to compensate for the vast array of jutsu I put into Naruto's arsenal. He won't know every single one of them until much later though. There will also be a few OC, so let me know what you think of them.

Anko is around a year older than Naruto. I would also appreciate critique on Naruto's appearance. Sakura and Sasuke will also still carry the burden of Naruto's death with them and it will make them distant from the teammate that joined them shortly after Naruto's "death". I believe this is realistic because Kakashi still carries the memories of Rin and Obito with him. That's after years of being a shinobi. Sasuke and Sakura have only had four, and since the war in my story ended only a few months after they were forced to leave Naruto, they've had nothing to distract them from the fact that he's gone.

So without further ado, I present Chapter 6 of _Naze?_, titled "Genesis".

Genesis

The rough bark of the tree grated against her legs uncomfortably, yet it did nothing to dim the majesty of the forest surrounding Konoha. Autumn was beginning to cool the scorching summer heat of the Land of Fire, bringing with it the brisk chill that Anko loved so much.

Looking down from the sturdy branch upon which she sat gave Anko a view many artists would die to gaze upon. Countless trees, their vibrant leaves contrasting deliciously with the red clouds of the dawn, formed a serene barrier between the mighty village of Konoha and the rest of the outside world.

_I suppose it's still worthy of being called mighty_, she thought absentmindedly as she played with a small vein of bark between her fingers. _The war only ended about three—no, three and a half years ago and already their flaunting their strength by hosting the first Chuunin Exams. Bet they can back it up too._

Her thoughts were conveniently confirmed when the scent of twenty Konoha patrol nin briefly past across her sensitive nose.

She cringed dramatically and thought, _Damn scouts. Always smell like dogs._

Her thoughts wandered to other, less consequential things for a while, until her eyes rested upon her companion leaning casually against the thick trunk of a tree as he stood upon a branch, his gaze lying only on the great white walls of Konoha.

_Hell of a way to come home_, Anko reflected sadly. _Still, I think he'll pull through. He brought me out of the darkness—_

She turned away, her hand covering her mouth to prevent inappropriate laughter.

_I can't even _think _that without laughin' my ass off. Bring me out of the darkness…what a load of bullshit. Best time to assassinate someone is in the dark. Why pull a shinobi out of it? _

Leaning back against the tree and sighing, she returned her attention to Naruto. He hadn't moved for quite some time, though this didn't necessarily surprise her. It was the first time in a long time since he'd seen his home. He deserved to have some time to think.

That didn't mean, however, that he was allowed to stand there for hours on end.

Anko fidgeted restlessly. She was _so _bored. They'd travelled all the way from Ame to compete in these damned Exams just so they could catch a glimpse of some person or other. She'd tuned out Konan's briefing, content to monitor Pain-sama's progress on using the muscles in his face. Anko had seen him sigh and a week ago he'd smirked…or made a slight upward motion with the left corner of his mouth. Naruto, fellow co-founder and player of the sport, remarked later that the motion was a significant improvement from the previous week, though not enough to beat the time Pain had actually laughed. Anko had, of course, politely told him that he was as wrong as mixing orange and blonde together (an insult she found had great effect on him) and that Pain had coughed, not laughed. Needless to say, it was one of the more controversial events in the sport's history.

A breeze past through the trees, bring the pleasant music of rattling leaves to her ears. Anko watched Naruto's hair follow this pattern as well. This wasn't hard really, considering how long her friend's hair had grown. The blond spikes which had once so blatantly defied gravity had gradually succumbed to the laws of physics as Naruto got older, marked by how it had begun cascading elegantly down his head and around his face. Indifferent to his appearance, Naruto had allowed it to grow down just a little past his shoulders and might have let it grow longer had Anko not taken a kunai to it while he slept. Appearance, Anko reasoned, was something boys had to be taught forcibly, as they seemed totally unaware of it on their own.

Naruto's clothes she had no say in, though she had to admit that they made him look somewhat intimidating…or at least as intimidating as a small twelve year old boy could be. He wore a black hakama and covered his feet with ninja sandals of a similar color. For his upper body, he wore a cloak comparable to those worn by their superiors in Akatsuki, save that the cloak had no sleeve on the right side and only half a sleeve on the left. The cloak itself also wrapped tightly, yet comfortably, around Naruto slight frame, as opposed to the Akatsuki version that hung loosely off of them. It did still bear the raised collar and Naruto's was high enough to cover all the way up to the tip of his nose. Concluding the ensemble was an uchigatana* strapped horizontally to his waist on his back with a black sash and a tanto* that hung on off of the left side of his waist on the same sash that held his primary weapon.

Another breeze past through the forest, gently blowing Naruto's hair to the side. The rising sun, the blades hanging casually, yet magnificently off of his body—the sight suddenly made Anko feel warm and pleasant all over.

Her eyes widened in shock and she quickly looked away, an unbidden blush creeping across her face.

_There it is again_, she thought in dismay.

Anko had felt this sensation before when looking at Naruto, though she'd always dismissed as a happiness at being his friend. She was slowly beginning to doubt that theory, however. Every time she looked at him, memories of their time together took hold over her thoughts and wrapped around her, creating the warm and pleasant feeling that disturbed her so. One of these memories was a mission right before the siege of Amegakure. It had been particularly powerful for the both of them, despite their age, and their relationship had changed inexorably afterwards:

"_Kaze Yaiba no Jutsu!"_

_Naruto's hand, momentarily blurred by a torrent of wind, sliced through the poor soldier as if he were made of silk. His blood gushed out of his body as he collapsed to the ground, leaving only Naruto standing upon the tattered battlefield. For a boy at the tender age of ten, he looked nearly demonic. Blood, splashed across his blond hair, gave him the appearance of a hellish reaper, come to slay the enemies of Hell and his crimson red eyes bored down onto the useless mounds of flesh that had once been foolish enough to fight him._

_Yet none of that compared to the ecstatic grin slowly spreading across his blood-splattered face._

_Anko looked at him nervously for a moment before quickly calling out, "H-hey! Naruto! What are you grinning about?"_

_She tried to grin teasingly, but it ended up as a pained grimace. She'd seen people fight like that before, more times than she cared to remember. She supposed that even she exhibited traits similar to sadism when fighting. But that was all just a carefully practiced act to intimidate her enemies. Naruto still looked like he was happy._

"_Just having fun," he replied happily, his grin still on his face, only carrying less malice and more joviality._

_She felt her stomach do a back flip. It was the same type of response she'd been receiving from him every time she'd questioned the blood lust he'd shown while killing his targets. At first, she'd assumed he was simply putting on an act like herself, a ploy designed to intimidate and provoke enemies into rash decisions. After seeing him smile like _that_, however—even after the battle was over—Anko had finally realized that Naruto was actually enjoying the killing. _

_Not for the first time, she wondered if it was that type of feeling Naruto had been trying to get from her when was leaning ever so close over his face._

_These "quirks" in his personality hadn't become apparent until only a couple weeks ago. After Naruto had—well, done something to her curse mark—their oddly pierced leader had allowed her to train with him. Of course, she was under guard constantly and anytime she was permitted to leave the room to visit Naruto, five Ame shinobi were close behind. She couldn't really blame Pain (thought this didn't stop her from questioning his choice of titles). Anko didn't even know why Pain had accepted her. _

_Nevertheless, she had trained with Naruto and had slowly found herself loving being around the hyperactive blonde, whose energy couldn't be hidden no matter how mature and "cool" he tried to act. It was quite amusing to see his balloon deflated…usually in the most dramatic manner she could think of._

_Eventually, Pain had allowed him to go on missions, even if it was with several dozen shinobi nearby. These missions had mostly been simple. They had never once been pitched against a strong shinobi…or any shinobi for that matter. Their missions were only in areas Pain had already conquered, as if the emotionless leader merely wanted to test their abilities rather than actually have them complete serious missions. Both Naruto and Anko found it quite annoying, but since they had no say in the missions, they trusted their leader and followed his orders with little fuss. _

_But as Anko became a more permanent part of life in Pain's forces—a transition she all too happily welcomed when compared with her past—and began regaining her health, Naruto began paying less attention to her well-being and more towards his…activities._

_Now, she was forced to debate in every mission between asking Naruto to stop or just letting him be. The latter option had obviously won out. It wasn't that Anko was afraid of what Naruto might do to her—she didn't think he could even consider harming her and she was fairly sure that he couldn't even if he wanted to—it was that she was afraid of one of the guarding Ame nin hiding a few hundred yards back reporting to Pain. What if he made her leave? _

"_DIE REBEL BRAT!"_

_A soldier, eyes wide and hysterical, rushed at Naruto with his sword swinging wildly around him. _

_Anko cried out, "Naruto!"_

_Staring behind him at the crazed soldier, Naruto waited until the man's sword was only inches away from him before rapidly ducking under it and sending a blade of wind across his gut, spilling its contents out into the open where all could see. The man screamed in pain as he feel backwards onto the ground. He writhed on the ground, his arms flailing wildly on the ground in search of some salvation from his misery._

_She rushed up to Naruto's side and roughly turned his body towards her, her eyes anxiously scanning his body for hurt._

_Naruto tried to wriggle out of her grip in order to get a better look at his victim. Anko responded by holding onto him even tighter. Maybe if he couldn't see him—_

"_Look at him Anko! Look at him! He's searching for someone—_anyone—_to comfort him." He let out a delighted, childish giggle that sounded insane in the horrible context of the situation. "Let me go to him…let me cradle him to my chest and bring him the salvation he needs…"_

_Anko felt frightened tears beginning to form in her eyes, "N-Naruto—"_

_His efforts to escape her grasp became more and more frantic. The expression on his face became hungry and saliva began dripping from his mouth. The red eyes radiated lust and desire for the touch of the man as he pawed against her arms._

"_Anko, let go of me," he demanded of her, his childish voice heavy with demented excitement, "let me comfort him. I want to feel his blood against my—"_

"_NARUTO!"_

_Before she knew what she was doing, Anko pressed Naruto's head into her chest and squeezed him close to her, her face buried in his soft hair. _

_Tears ran down her face…just as the rain fell from the sky upon them now. _

_She felt Naruto tense in her grip…then collapse into it. She didn't say anything. She didn't do anything. Anko merely held Naruto close to her. She held the nearest thing she had to a friend close to her heart, a place she'd kept guarded under cynicism and mischief for her as long as she could remember._

_She eventually released Naruto and cautiously watched him step back from her. Anko belatedly noticed that the groans of the soldier had died down. _

_Naruto stared at her, eyes wide in fear and confusion. His face was red from being held into her chest for so long and his hair, despite being damp against his face, was spread out in every direction from Anko's grip. Tear lines could be seen in the splatters of blood across his face, though the rain was quickly washing them away._

_They stood like that for what seemed like an eternity, the rain being the only source of sound around them. Finally, Naruto gave her a genuine smile, turned around, and walked back towards their base camp, his small form looking like it was ready to fall apart. Anko allowed herself a small smile as well and quickly ran up to join him._

Shortly after that, Naruto had begun sneaking into her room during the middle of the night to talk to her…about anything. Despite her normal annoyance with such things, Anko couldn't have been happier. They spent long hours talking the night away and they still kept up this practice, even after three years of doing it. It was during this time that Naruto told her about his life…and she revealed her own.

"Hey Anko!"

Ignoring the call, she began playing with her violet hair using her finger, the twirling of its dark strand a perfect symbol for the confusion of her thoughts. Her eyes darted between Naruto's still form to the branch upon which she rested several times as her thoughts ran about in her head.

The feeling was now gone, but she was still nervous about what it meant. Anko was aware of romance and the eventual attraction that occurred between boys and girls (or those of one's own gender), but no one had ever told her how to know if she was feeling them. How _did _you know?

"Ankoooooo!"

_And its Naruto_, she thought with a shudder. _That would be weird…_

Anko looked at Naruto and kept her gaze upon him. The feeling returned in a flash, nearly causing her to rip the now curled strand of hair out of her scalp.

"ANKO!"

She whipped her head around, "WHAT?"

Her teammate blushed, then smirked wickedly.

In the loudest voice he could manage, Tsuppari Gouzen asked, "WHY'RE YOU STARIN' AT BLONDIE,_ ANKO_?"

For some unknown reason, Anko felt horror seep into her gut. An unbidden blush colored her face red as she frantically searched her mind for an answer.

"Because I'm just that awesome."

Anko swerved her head towards the source of the voice. There was Naruto standing dramatically in a mock hero pose, arms flexed and eyes smiling behind his neck cover.

"Right, my _dearest_ Anko?"

For a moment, Anko was at a loss for words. However, any shame at the strange thoughts she was having was more than trumped by the shame of letting Naruto defeat her in a verbal battle.

Turning her head away in disapproval, she replied, "Hmph, like you could. You can't even pick a safe branch to land on."

Naruto blinked in confusion before responding, "I don't foll—oh." His eyes became exasperated dots and he asked, "Did you?"

Anko grinned maliciously, "I did, my _dearest _Naruto."

"…Damn."

As if on cue, a giant snake swung its scaly head around the other side of the tree trunk on which it lay camouflaged to face Naruto and, with what appeared to be a wink, crushed the flimsy branch upon which Naruto stood with a simple squeeze of its massive tale, sending poor Naruto crashing to the forest floor.

Anko burst out into uproarious laughter, which Gouzen seemed all too keen to join in on. For his part, Naruto could simply glare at Anko beneath the branches and leaves tangled in his hair.

_No_, Anko reassured herself as her laughter died down, _I don't think I'd ever feel _that _for the gaki. But it doesn't mean I don't love him._

Her face brightened by brilliant grin, Anko jumped down from her branch and joined Naruto on the ground, excitement coursing through her in anticipation for their mission.

* * *

Naruto cringed inwardly.

"Fight me now, Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru, so that I can finally prove how pathetic you really are when compared to my might!"

_Baka doesn't even know my real name_, Naruto reflected exasperatedly, noting Gouzen's use of the alias Pain had given him.

"Did you memorize that from a romance novel Gouzen," he asked coolly, old memories of encounters between himself and Sasuke suddenly fresh in his mind, bringing with them the small pang of loss. He quickly dismissed them and focused more on watching his taller teammate walking in front of him.

Gouzen smirked smugly, "Tch, baka! I wish to do battle with you, not make love—unless you're revealing your true nature!" His smirk turned into a victorious grin, "Ha! That's it! You're—"

"Actually," Naruto interrupted casually, "I was referring to your courtship to Anko-hime here."

Gouzen froze in his tracks, nearly knocking Naruto over.

"Something in your way," Naruto asked politely as he swerved around Gouzen's body.

He stole a glance at his teammate's face and saw it to be redder than the sky of the quickly aging dawn.

"Ah," Naruto announced, his voice projecting a sad knowledge, "I see your problem my friend."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Why, love of course! To our lady Ank—"

Gouzen's rough hands suddenly grabbed the scruff of Naruto's collar, bringing him an inch within the distraught Genin's face.

"Don't_. _Say_. _Another_. Word_."

"About what Gouzen sweetie?"

Anko's mischievous face abruptly appeared over Gouzen's shoulder.

"AH! Anko! W-we we're—ah…um—"

"Discussing matters of the heart," Naruto offered cheerfully.

"Yeah, matters of the hea—wait, what?"

Naruto could've sworn Anko licked her lips. "Aw, Gouzen…am I the centerpiece of your heart?"

Naruto raised his eyebrows as sweat beads began former at the top of Gouzen's brow. The increased reddening of his face complimented it beautifully.

"W-well, I d-d-don't know—"

"What? You don't love me?" Anko turned away, hand covering her face to hide her tears. "Oh, it pains me to think of the wonderful love we could have…all is now ashes—"

"ANKOCHANIDIDN'TMEANIT!"

Gouzen's became purple and his jaw muscles nearly burst past his skin in their effort to clamp down on his teeth hard enough. Naruto and Anko looked at each other for the most infinitesimal of moments before bursting into laughter. Tears flowed from Naruto's eyes as Gouzen roughly dropped him onto the ground, expletives billowing from his mouth like smoke from a volcano as he finally found some way to justify speaking.

When the flood of curses and laughter finally dimmed to a few grumblings and pleasant sighs, Naruto felt it was safe to talk again, "Gouzen, you gotta lighten up man."

He stood up, clapped the larger boy on the back, and continued, "We're heading on a dangerous mission."

"Life-threatening, you might say," Anko added as she brushed a tear from her eye.

Naruto studied his teammate's face for a reaction, only this time his intent was not one of frivolity. Their mission _was_ dangerous. They were sneaking into one of the most powerful of the Five Nations as a Genin team for the Chuunin Exams. If they discovered anything that might lead them to suspect Ame wasn't all it appeared, Pain and Konan's dream—Naruto's dream—could come crashing down in an instant.

Naruto needed Gouzen to be ready. Pain had picked the boy for a reason: he had only been in two skirmishes in his "career". Gouzen had graduated from the Academy at age ten, meaning he was coming into the civil war just as Pain's forces were surrounding Amegakure. As such, he'd had little to no battle experience. The two skirmishes had been with enemy Ame nin who were fleeing from Amegakure after Hanzou's demise and a few weak missing-nin who would've fit the moniker of "bandits" quite well. While Naruto had no idea if Gouzen was actually competent or not, his personality and lack of experience would cause many of the participants in the Exam to underestimate and disregard their team. Then, they could perform their mission without much hassle.

Gouzen looked first at Anko (for barely an instant, of course), and then Naruto before exasperatedly replying, "Hell, I _know_! Why do you think I'm so excited? Our Lord picked me—_me_—out of all the Genin in my squadron to go on the greatest mission ever! I wonder if I'll get to see Lady Angel after this is over…or maybe even our Lord himself!"

Naruto sighed as Gouzen nearly squealed in delight, thoughts of shame at his recent humiliation apparently absent from his mind.

"Yeah," he warned, "just don't forget that we're here to complete a mission, not _tell_ everyone that we're here to complete a mission."

Gouzen turned a scornful onto him, "I know _that _baka! Besides," he glanced at Anko bashfully, "I have to do my best…to earn someone's love."

_Oh dear God_, Naruto thought in horror, forcibly resisting the temptation to hurl.

He saw Anko glance at him and give a knowing smile. He was extremely thankful when she made an abrupt change in the direction of the conversation, "Come on you two. We gotta to make it to the entranceway before the merchants. Besides Gouzen, I'm just _dying _to have you sweep me off my lil' old feet after you conquer Konoha."

The purple shade returned once more.

"S-shut up! I-I was…I was just surprised is all! I don't love you, ya purple-haired snake witch!"

Naruto chuckled and replied, "Whatever you say man. Just don't let that," he pointed at a particularly sensitive region of Gouzen's body, "get in the way of that," he moved his finger up to his head.

"GAH! What the hell are you talking about you little pervert?"

Naruto winked conspiratorially at him, "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Tch," Gouzen uttered dismissively, "like I would ever let such ignoble thoughts taint my desire for glory and—"

Naruto resumed walking down the forest path towards the main Konoha road, his thoughts mildly drifting along as he watched leaves scatter before the wind of his feet. The swirlsmade them seem otherworldly. Hell, it made the entire forest—from the rich amber and orange hues of the leaves to firm and rich darkness of the bark—glow with the faintest light, as if Naruto was walking in the garden of heaven itself.

"Naruto!"

He turned his crimson eyes behind him, "Hmm?"

Anko tapped his head frantically, "Your hair!"

He jumped away and wrapped his arms around his head, his eyes never leaving their kunai pouch.

Anko groaned in frustration, "I'm not going to cut it dumbass. You've gotta change its color."

"Wha—oh right!"

Forming a lazy hand sign with his left hand, Naruto muttered, his expressing every ounce of the relief he felt, "Henge no Jutsu."

A faint puff of smoke obscured his vision for a moment. Once it dissipated, he asked her hesitantly, "Good?"

Anko checked all sides of his head before shrugging and replying, "I suppose. Dunno why you make it silver."

Naruto patted his hair protectively, "I think it looks neat."

She rolled her eyes as she walked past him, "Dork."

Not wishing to lose the complex battle wits, Naruto retorted, "Slut!"

Anko didn't miss a stride, "So?"

"Well, you're…damn," he admitted angrily as he sped up to catch up with her.

Before he could further their conversation and perhaps get her back, he felt her hand fall on his head and ruffle it playfully. Naruto emitted a low growl in response.

"Aw, did I make little Naruto angry?"

He knocked her hand away and snapped, "_Shut it_."

Her grin feral, she nevertheless respected his wishes and remained silent, only sparing a glance behind her when Gouzen's loud feet were heard pattering against the ground to catch up to them. The rest of the time was spent admiring the scenery, which was a far cry from the bleak atmosphere of Ame. When they finally reached the road, they found that the throng of merchants, travelers, and spectators had already infested it, forming a throng of vibrant colors hues that made Naruto dizzy. This was especially so because of the swirls flowing everywhere he turned.

The road upon which they looked from the border of the forest, dubbed one of the "Omoi Keiro" by foreigners, was indeed one of several "massive roads" that branched out of Konoha through the forest and into the outside world. The roads were only one of many symbols that flaunted the Village Hidden in the Leaves' power. Of course, Konoha was more akin to a city than a village. This was due to the expansion of its territory during the war to richer markets and trading posts, allowing an increase in spending on both military and civilian institutions. The improvements for the latter, however, had only occurred in the last three and a half years after the end of the Fourth War.

Inhaling slowly, Naruto flexed his eyes until the swirls around him stopped and then said, his voice far more serious than before, "Headbands in plain view."

.In all honesty, most _civilians _would be able to tell they were shinobi, let alone other shinobi. Still, Pain wanted the process to be official and Naruto had no intention of doing anything, even the most insignificant faux pas, to screw it up.

He glanced behind him to make sure that the order was followed and, seeing that it was, untied his own neckband from underneath his neck in order to place it around his right arm. Naruto toyed with it until the four vertical lines were apparent to all who happened to glance in his direction. Grunting in approval, he looked behind him one last time, appraising his teammates as if he were another participant in the Exams.

Gouzen would have past for an ordinary Ame grunt had it not been for his unnecessarily pristine Ame uniform. A black shinobi shirt over a mesh top covered his upper body, while black shinobi pants, leg guards, and sandals took care of the rest. His head band held back spiky brown hair and he'd worn it in that fashion the entire trip. His only acknowledgment of Naruto's order (which he had begrudgingly followed because of Naruto's position as squad leader) was a slight twist for better comfort. Two wakizashi's on his back finished the look.

Anko cut a far more imposing figure than Gouzen, despite her shorter and slighter build than the tall Genin. Her attire, however, was far simpler than Gouzen's. A sleeveless black bodysuit covered by an equally black skirt was all that covered her body. A dark coat that only reached to the middle of her stomach was all that remained in the way of covering.

The clothes were designed to convey both a sense of sensuality and menace, a feat which it performed admirably. Anko was, from what few other girls similar in age to him that Naruto had seen, moving admirably along in terms of growth. She was several inches taller than him and already outperformed him in many tasks of physical aptitude, despite the apparent lack of significant muscle mass on her body. Recently, however, he'd begun to pay particular attention to her chest, which aroused a confusing feeling within him that he had much desire to explore when he had time. In retrospect, there was nothing remarkable about it. It merely consisted of two, modestly large bumps. Bumps that seemed particularly hard to turn away from…

He shook his head in an effort to remove the thoughts from his mind. They were inconveniently distracting, if not oddly pleasant. Body aside, Anko's weaponry was more than enough to make opponents think twice about underestimating her. Two kunai with blades wider than Naruto's stretched hand were strapped to her trench coat. The crimson wraps around their handles radiated malice, even in the shade of the trees, and could be seen just underneath Anko's pineapple ponytail.

Besides the blades and the little "tricks" they carried, Anko also had a remarkable proficiency with summoning snakes, something she refused to explain. When he'd questioned Pain about it (his curiosity driven more by a desire to figure out how to kill them rather than actual wonder), he'd responded that Anko did not desire that aspect of her past to be known. Naruto had promptly let it drop and accepted her little friends as valuable allies on the battlefield.

She'd eventually revealed the source behind her scaly protectors to him during one of his nightly escapades, as well as other aspects of her past that he found easily rivaled his own in horror. All them brought him much grief and heartbreak and he became ever the closer to her as a result.

_Orochimaru_, he thought angrily, his crimson eyes narrowing dangerously.

He quickly exhaled his breath, imagining the fumes of anger leaving him in a delightful rush. _Seidaku_ would not allow him to immerse himself within anger. Anko's former sensei had his reasons for what he did. Who was Naruto to question the mind of such a powerful ninja? Perhaps the snake would find a key to immortality that would improve people's lives. His malevolent nature, however—

Naruto blinked. Now was not the time to be reflecting on matters unimportant to the mission at hand.

Turning toward the road and making a quick motion with his finger, Naruto said, "Let's go. We should get our living arrangements set up as quickly as possible in order to avoid the rush of other foreigners. We might even get a chance to see our target."

Not waiting for a response, he set off into the crowd, ignoring the confused and strained looks of people as he passed by them.

_No need for wonder there_, he thought grimly, _there chakra's being tampered with after all._

Smirking beneath his neck cover, Naruto continued on. He was returning to Konoha. He was returning to the place that had scorned and abandoned him all those years ago. He wasn't here for revenge and constantly told himself that such a desire was pointless and futile. But still…the anger still burned within him…the hatred still scorched his heart. This would be a chance prove to himself and the world that he finally had a purpose. Maybe he could have a little fun along the way.

* * *

The roads were far more crowded than Naruto had first thought, for it took them nearly an hour just to navigate halfway down the road through bustling mass of people. This navigation in and of itself was an adventure through the exotic cultures of the land. Strange beasts and jewels radiated mystique. Exotic clothes and robes glowed in the sun, their bright colors only adding to the amalgamation of colors in the crowd. From the light robes and tan skin of the Southern islands to the leather hides of the northern mountains, there was a representative of nearly every region in the continent and islands, in one form or another.

There were many shinobi making their way through the crowd as well, all of them ignoring the chaos around them. One could tell they were shinobi by the self-assured way in which they carried themselves, as if to say "I know how to kill…and you don't."

Naruto couldn't really blame them. It was very tempting to look down on civilians who had never seen a day of battle in their life, despite the fact that many of the civilians around them probably had experienced the horrors of battle.

_Of course_, he thought as a female shinobi roughly shoved him aside, _that doesn't mean I have to abide by it._

Another eye-opener for him was the immense number of participants. There looked to be hundreds of them, all keenly awaiting their chance to show the world their strength.

"Wonder how they're gonna cut this number down," he muttered, his gaze following a group of twenty or so Kumo nin squads as they moved through the crowd.

Anko shook her head as she stood beside him, "No clue. Bet it'll be fun though."

"Yeah!"

They both turned towards Gouzen and were dismayed to find him acting in the exact same manner as the rest of the shinobi, arrogance and all.

Resisting the urge to knock his face into the ground, Naruto resumed walking.

* * *

They finally reached the entranceway, which they found was divided into two lines for civilians and shinobi. When they reached the dozen or so groups of Konoha nin scanning foreign shinobi for illegal substances or weapons, Naruto nearly cried out in dismay.

Iruka-sensei, the one teacher who had acknowledged him during his time at the Academy, was overseeing the scanning. Naruto stared at him sadly, half expecting the same warm smile he'd received all those years ago. Instead, his former sensei took a glance at the symbol on his armband and made a curt motion to one of the scanning groups.

Disappointment welled up inside of him. Iruka had never done anything to harm him, but Naruto had no way of expressing the sheer gratitude he felt for him without completely compromising the mission. There were so many things Iruka had done for him. Why couldn't he—

"Pull yourself together and move, _squad leader_."

Naruto nearly jumped in shock. Anko was staring down at him sternly, yet the look in her eyes told him that she understood. He'd told her practically everything about himself during their training, including his cherished memory of Iruka-sensei.

Nodding, he moved through the scanner group, received a satisfactory "Go ahead", and walked on to one of the registration booths, where he waited for Anko and Gouzen. When they joined him there, he turned towards the Konoha shinobi sitting behind the neatly organized stacks of paper, quickly un-flexed his eyes upon seeing the slight confusion and strain in his eyes, and announced calmly, "I am Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru. These are my teammates, Mitarashi Anko and Tsuppari Gouzen. We hail from the Village Hidden in the Rain and are here to compete in the Chuunin Exams."

The Konoha shinobi to whom he was speaking glanced at their hitai-ate for a moment before quickly flipping through a moderately sized sheaf of paper with the symbols for Ame, Kusa, and Taki on it. The man was a Chuunin, if the light green vest was anything to go by, and had a white wrap around his nose that circled behind his head underneath spiky brown hair.

"Ah, here you are," he announced, quickly marking a check by their names. "Hmm, not many Ame squads in the competition this year. 'Course that's usually the case every year."

He glanced up at Naruto to see if he'd offended him, but Naruto only smiled in response. A small smile on his own face, the Chuunin tore out three pieces of chakra paper and handed it to each one of them.

"Place those papers on your arms if you would," he commanded politely.

Naruto looked at them and became alarmed at the intense motion of the swirls surrounding the paper. Nevertheless, he did not want to cause an incident in such a crowded area. It would attract unneeded attention.

Nodding towards Anko and Gouzen to let them know it was all right, he slapped the paper on his arm and watched anxiously as a seal spread its inky fingers across his forearm.

He sent a questioning glance at the Chuunin.

"Don't worry," the man replied reassuringly, "those seals won't mess with your chakra. It just lets us know where you are and if you're using an abnormal amount of chakra."

Outwardly, Naruto shrugged indifferently. Inwardly…

_FUCK! _

If he'd been in a calmer state of mind, he might've admired the caution Konoha was taking in letting foreign shinobi, some of which they'd fought before, into their walls. At the moment, however, his mind was racing with different strategies on how to get around this particular obstacle.

_I'll have to think of something once we get inside_, he reasoned resignedly._ Now's not a good time to be hesitating._

Gathering Anko and Gouzen's paper with his own and handing them back to the Chuunin, Naruto queried, "Is that all, Konoha-san?"

The man raised his eyebrows at the respect of the title Naruto had bestowed upon him. His smile a little wider, he replied, "Yep, that's about it. I assume you have living arrangements already made?"

They nodded.

"Good. That'll save a lot of time and misery for you. You may enter Konoha now. But," he held up a finger in warning, "know that there are certain rules for foreigners entering Konoha, especially foreign shinobi. The only time you are allowed to use jutsu is during the exam. If your chakra levels rise to levels normally suited for jutsu or battle proportional to the amount of chakra you have, the seal on your hand will glow blue and they," he motioned with the thumb of his other hand towards several masked shinobi standing guard all along the wall's base and top, "will come to take you into custody and question you on the reason for such a high level of chakra. If it was merely an accident, then no harm. If not…"

His voice drifted off, leaving Naruto with many thoughts of certain "interrogative methods".

_Those are ANBU_, he thought as he glanced at the masked shinobi again. _Wonder if they'll detect my eyes. They take chakra, but hardly any now. I should try it out later._

"We understand," he replied politely.

"That's good. Now go on in. I've got a few hundred more kids like you to register and I'd like to get it done before the exams start tomorrow."

Nodding, Naruto walked around the desk and towards the massive stone entranceway that led into the magnificent village of Konoha. Anko and Gouzen were right behind him as he stepped through it and they nearly fell over in wonder at what they beheld within.

"I-It's so _big_," Gouzen uttered, dumbfounded at the beautiful buildings and architecture within.

"Everything's so…so—"

"_Big_."

"I was going for 'awe-inspiring' or 'magnificent in terms of how every building looks like it's brand new', but 'big' does the job just as well."

Naruto ignored their words completely. Something within him had been awakened upon seeing the fair city before him. The white stone of the houses, armories, barracks, and businesses shone brilliantly in the sun. Colors flourished amidst this foundation architecture, for the countless number of vendors use the vibrancy of dyes and paints to attract customers to their wares. And everywhere there were people…hundreds upon thousands of people. Had a paltry four years of peace really allowed Konoha to change from a rigid military state to the thriving city before him? The streets and alleyways he had roamed and amused himself in as a child were now unrecognizable amidst the dizzying mass of people and colors and buildings before him.

His homecoming…he didn't know what he had expected. But now, he was merely another blip of color in the crowd. How could anyone recognize him here?

Naruto clenched his teeth.

Yes, part of him _wanted _to be found out. He wanted to show the villagers how he had changed from the pathetic beggar child that had plagued their streets. He wanted to show his teammates—the nine Genin who had made it past the exams—that he was no longer the fool they had looked down upon. How could he do that now?

_I'm home_, he thought sadly. The sadness, as it often did, suddenly turned to anger. But the training of Pain tempered that anger with focus and he realized the terrible consequences of his actions if he allowed his thoughts to seep into reality.

The incredible noise of everyone around him, all concerned with matters of great importance and meaning…they were just as significant as he was. Pain and Konan were fighting for them…and so was he.

Taking a deep breath, he set off into the crowd, allowing himself to become one with the colors, buildings, and people…to become one with Konoha once more.

* * *

**A/N****: **Sorry about the short chapter. I need a full chapter for next time to get everything I want to in. Also, I kind of want to make up for my poor updating time in the past. I can only say that the next several chapters will be fairly long, as they will be covering the Chuunin Exam arc. I'm revising my approach to the story. I've been writing as if my story is going to be the same as canon, except that Naruto will be different. That is clearly not the case. The next chapters will be realistic, dark, and full of action. I hope they meet your expectations.

Keep on reading and review to your heart's content,

Oramo

*Uchigatana—Blades dating back to the Heian period in Japan, they were most often used by samurai during the Warring States (Sengoku) and Edo period. They were quicker than the longer and straighter otachi blade and their fighting style evolved into their attack being in the same movement as when they were unsheathed. Since Naruto is just a little over five feet in height, his sword is about 1.15 meters (around 3.5 feet). Also, his sword is more curved than a regular uchigatana.

*Tanto—A knife commonly used by samurai in combination with the otachi. The two swords samurai wore are the tanto and otachi (the tanto being the shorter one). The uchigatana eventually became more prevalent, eventually replacing the otachi. The wakizashi replaced the tanto in similar fashion. Naruto's tanto is somewhat longer than a kunai.


	7. Earth, Wind, and Fire

**A/N****:** Hey guys, thanks for the reviews for my last chapter. It was meant to be a short, yet adequate bridge between the previous chapter and this one. This chapter will extend to just before the beginning of the First Test. Also, the Rookie Nine (minus Naruto), are not hardened veterans of the war. Not compared to Naruto anyway. This is because they were not allowed to kill an enemy during a mission. Some of you have questioned how realistic such a law was, especially in a life or death situation. I counter that Kakashi, as well as Kurenai and Asuma, would have been able to watch over their team during the mission. The reason they were able to do this will be briefly explained during the next few chapters.

Intelligo mentioned that a tanto was used almost exclusively for suicide. I did some research and found that, while this was true, it was also used for battle during its early years of popularity. It was comparable to how a pistol is used today: a last resort in case your primary weapon fails. But Intelligo is right that a tanto was used for suicide, so kudos for pointing that out.

I hate to use other ideas to describe my own, but Konoha is similar to Rome in how it appears to other countries. Instead of the earthy, almost quaint village in canon, Konoha is now a powerful "shinobi city-state" in terms of its access to foreign markets and how it exploits them. For example, instead of dirt paths, the roads are now cobbled. Instead of wooden buildings, the architecture of Konoha is now mostly stone. I'd like to think of it as comparable to how Rome was depicted in _Gladiator_, just not as massive.

Don't worry, the gifts of the Mokuton and Shodaime Hokage have most certainly not been forgotten and wood is the material of choice for all buildings of importance (e.g. Hokage Tower, Shinobi Quarters, Hyuuga Compound, etc.). The Will of Fire is still there, the bonds between its citizens are still as strong as ever, and Konoha's citizens are familiar with each other, but Konoha is reaching a new point in its development. It's showing the signs of becoming an empire. Its success during the war and the results of that success are proof of that.

I am a pacifist and feel that war is unnecessary. I am also aware of the financial costs war brings upon a nation. The reason Konoha has experienced such astonishing growth will be explained in detail over the span of the Chuunin Exam arc. I've come to realize that I am a perfectionist and as a result, I don't like having certain ideas expressed without reason. This applies to attitudes in my story that haven't been explained so far. I'm trying to break that habit. If I'm trying too hard or placing too much emphasis on this, let me know.

On another note, Challenger is posting a challenge (go figure) for an Ultimate Naruto fic. The idea sounds pretty cool, so I definitely suggest anyone that's interested to take a look at Challenger's profile and found out the specifics.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 7 of _Naze?_, titled "Earth, Wind, and Fire".

Earth, Wind, and Fire

Hyuuga Hinata sifted through the crowd with the timidity of a child. Violet bangs swaying hesitantly before her eyes, the heiress to the most powerful clan in Konoha was absolutely petrified of what she was about to do. Who wouldn't be running nightmarish scenarios over and over in their head if they had to be one of the representatives at Council meeting for their clan?

Of course, she wasn't expected to actually _do _anything, other than sit quietly and look like the "pale princess" Kiba-kun often called her. He did it mainly as an effort to rile her up and make her try harder in training, but a part of her only sunk itself further in doubt and fear. To her, the phrase brought up images of a hollow, sickly, and weak figurehead too fragile to even be a puppet ruler.

That's exactly what Hinata thought she was: a pale princess unworthy of the attention she received. She did not doubt that others felt the same way. The war had only reinforced her self-doubt. The missions they went on…she didn't care what Kurenai-sensei or her teammates said; all she had ever done was get in their way, never once being of any use during their three years in battle.

Hinata bit her lip guiltily.

_I shouldn't say I don't care what Kurenai-sensei, Kiba-kun, and Shino-kun say_, she corrected mentally, sounding out her titles for them as if to rectify her mistake. _I value everything they tell me. But…_

How could she say that she held their words close to her heart when she _knew _they were wrong?

A foreign merchant, the rich blue of his light robe suggesting he was from the southern islands, took a glance her way and nearly fell over himself in surprise.

Had Hinata been any less compassionate than she was, she would have sent an exasperated glare his way. She'd seen so many foreign visitors goggle at her noble attire that the awed stares and excited whispers of the massive throng of people around her only gave her frustration. The four Hyuuga guards stationed protectively around her, pale eyes warily scanning the crowd for any hint of a threat as they walked to the Council room, did little to mitigate this effect.

This thought caused Hinata to remember something Neji-kun had said to her, _"Yes, Hinata-_sama_, you surely need such protection in this strenuous time. Allow the Branch family to provide their most able bodies to suit your needs."_

The words themselves were not what hurt Hinata. It was the spiteful tone in his voice and the hateful and contemptuous gleam in her cousin's brilliant eyes that made her want to rip her insides out. He was right. What had she done to deserve such favor?

Her self-loathing only deepened as she realized how pathetic she must have seemed to those around her. The poor little princess, always stuttering like a fool about how horrible her life was. It was as if Neji was beside her now, scorning her very existence with his eyes.

As Hinata walked on to the Council building, her thoughts consumed by despair, she noticed a shift in the once rapt attention of the constantly moving crowd. Hinata stopped herself from breathing a sigh of relief. Whatever had drawn the crowd's attention away Hinata was truly thankful for…until she saw what it actually was.

Uchiha Sasuke, pale face accenting his raven hair and eyes exotically, passed through the crowd wordlessly behind his Jounin instructor, Hatake Kakashi. His two teammates, Haruno Sakura and Rokujou Tadashii, followed close behind.

If there was anyone Hinata might have felt more pity for than Sasuke and Sakura, she knew them not. The two of them had suffered more than Hinata could ever dream in her worst nightmare. Sasuke had endured more, of course, but Hinata wasn't sure if emotional wounds could be quantified in such a manner. Still, his story was heart-wrenching to all but the coldest of people. Not only had he been forced to watch his teammate sacrifice himself so that he could live, but he'd also seen the massacre of his entire family at the hands of his own brother. For Sasuke to still be sane seemed incredible to her, though she did not doubt that even that might be questionable.

Hinata had been heartbroken when she heard of Naruto's death, despite having not spoken two words to him. His antics in the classroom and during the rare gatherings of the "Rookie Nine"—the last batch of fully fledged Genin to graduate under war-time standards and still participate in life-threatening battles—were humorous and full of confidence, qualities that Hinata wished she had within herself. Yet it was not that which had enraptured her about him. The antics were transparent and obviously the workings of someone starved of attention, but his energy was real and contagious. The light in his eyes when he was with all of his friends was too radiant for her to ignore. Perhaps this had been the beginnings of a childhood crush.

Regardless, Hinata had been greatly saddened at just _hearing _that Naruto had been killed. She couldn't begin to imagine how Sasuke and Sakura were feeling. Unfortunately, the effects of their teammate's demise were apparent to all…some worse than others.

After Naruto's death, Sasuke had totally withdrawn into himself. The Sandaime Hokage had suspended Sasuke's status as a ninja indefinitely after he'd illegally left the village, yet most believe that this was to allow the boy to recover emotionally. Others thought that it was to protect the last Sharingan within Konoha's control. Sasuke had said or done nothing when the decision was made known to him, a trait that would dictate all of his dealings with any person who tried to interact with him. Instead, he threw himself into his training, giving time to none save those who could help make him stronger. It was rare not see Sasuke sparring with clones of Kakashi, wearing himself down to the point of absolute fatigue while his sensei stood by, his lone eye watching Sasuke's movements like a hawk..

Nothing else mattered to Sasuke except the continual progression of his abilities and that indifference most certainly extended to the enraptured stares of the suddenly quiet crowd that he now walked through, his blue shirt and white shorts strangely inappropriate on one so famous.

"Hinata-chan!"

Hinata started and nearly embarrassed herself by tripping over her large kimono. Had she not endured years of schooling in the finer arts of etiquette, she wouldn't have been able to make the accident look like a gracious straightening of her dress.

"G-greetings S-S-Sakura-chan," she replied shyly, inclining her head as much as social protocol would allow.

Sakura rolled her eyes at Hinata's formality and jokingly responded, "You don't have to bow to me Hinata."

Hinata had no doubt that her guards agreed, but if they did, they gave no indication of such. Raising her head so that she was looking at Sakura (but not so much that she was making eye contact, of course), Hinata replied, "A-apologies, Sakura-chan."

Haruno Sakura was someone whom Hinata would have loved to consider a good friend. Her strength of will alone was enough to make Hinata respect her to the highest degree. While Sasuke had become introverted after their teammate had been killed, Sakura seemed to want to make up for her friend's anti-social behavior. She understood Sasuke in a way that only those who had lost someone they dearly loved could. In this case, the person they'd lost had been the same. It was even rumored among the Rookie Nine that Sakura, along with Kakashi, were the only ones Sasuke would openly converse with.

Hinata had no idea how Sakura could think of Sasuke's well-being when she too had to be hurting just as bad. To move past the hurt of seeing the death of someone who you had laughed and fought with for two years…

Of course, all of them still visited the monument dedicated to those who'd died protecting Konoha every day. Ino said she'd seen Sakura with tears silently running down her face.

"Where are you headed," Sakura asked, interrupting Hinata's thoughts

"T-t-to the C-Council m-meeting," she replied meekly, thoughts of her impending subjection to the critique of the most important people in Konoha dominating her thoughts once again.

Sakura's three other group members stopped when they noticed that her conversation was not a mere greeting. Kakashi smiled in his own way at her, Sasuke stared at her indifferently, and Team 7's final teammate scowled impatiently at the interruption. Such a reaction was not uncommon to see on Tadashii's face.

Hinata's pink-haired companion in their conversation seemed oblivious to their spectators and stated jokingly, "I guess I should have known with all the guards around. Of course, just seeing the way you're dressed would be enough to make anyone think you'd be going somewhere important. You look really pretty like that, you know. Maybe you should dress yourself up more often."

Sakura winked playfully, actually eliciting a small giggle from Hinata.

"Yeah that's nice and all, but can we go now?"

Hinata's widened and an ashamed blush reddened her cheeks. Looking down, Hinata apologetically said, "I-I apologize f-f-for w-wast—"

"There's no need Hinata," Sakura replied angrily, her furious glare directed at a suddenly abashed Tadashii, "Tadashii is just an impatient baka!"

"S-sorry Hinata," Tadashii muttered, genuinely apologetic for his rudeness. His eyes suddenly became excited and he announced, "I just really, _really _want to get to the training ground so can I work on my new jutsu."

He raised his fist in the air triumphantly, a very familiar grin on his face, "How else am I gonna become—"

"We know Tadashii," Sakura interrupted, though her glare had softened considerably, "but that's no excuse to be so rude."

"Sakura's right Tadashii," Kakashi said, his casual tone never giving any sign that he was angry with his student, but firm enough to command his attention, "you can't be so disrespectful towards your fellow shinobi."

Hinata noticed the legendary Jounin glance warily at her bodyguards, who were staring down at Tadashii with no small amount of malice. Kakashi was probably the only reason they hadn't taken the boy down right there and then. Rudeness, especially towards one of their own and most especially towards the heiress of their clan, was not tolerated in any form by the Hyuuga.

Tadashii lowered his fist and nodded, "I know. I'm sorry Hinata." He looked around nervously, unsure of what to do next. Kakashi happily placed his hand on his back and forced him into a bow.

Looking up at her hopefully, he asked, "You forgive me?"

Smiling bashfully, Hinata inclined her head in acceptance and replied, "T-there's no need, Tadashii-san." She ignored the scowl on her guardian's faces at the respectable suffix and continued, "I understand y-you're desire to t-train. I-I too am training for the E-Exams."

"Hey," Tadashii suddenly exclaimed, "you could come train with us! I bet those of eyes of yours can do a lot of cool stuff, you know?"

Hinata's eyes widened in surprise (and perhaps delight), though she did not miss the dangerous glint in Sasuke's black eye that appeared at Tadashii's words.

_He probably doesn't want me to slow him down_, she reasoned pragmatically, any happiness she felt at the invitation sinking quickly back into the recesses of her mind.

Before she could make any kind of response, however, the guard standing just behind her right side, Hyuuga Kinrou, calmly replied, "That will be impossible I'm afraid. The Council meeting will take a very long time to finish and your training session will most likely be over by then."

"Oh," Tadashii replied dejectedly. A smile soon spread across his face again and he happily responded, "Then we'll just make our training session longer! I'm sure Sasuke wouldn't mind that, right?"

Apparently, Tadashii had been aware of Sasuke's displeasure with the idea of Hinata training with them. For his part, Sasuke merely closed his eyes for a moment and then turned away.

"That's 'yes' in Sasuke-speak," Tadashii replied mischievously. "What about you Sakura? You okay with that?"

"Of course! I've got some stuff I need to work—"

"That will not be necessary," Kinrou interrupted, his natural calm never leaving his voice. Hinata looked up at him in shock, her joy at the prospect of training with her friends great enough to make her forget about what she was to do after the Council meeting.

"Hinata-sama is already receiving more than adequate instruction from our own instructors," Kinrou continued. "It would be a waste of your time to instruct someone who is already receiving the best tutelage they can get."

Tadashii looked ready to protest, but Kakashi's hand suddenly fell on the boy's shoulder.

"Kinrou-san is right, Tadashii," he said, his trademark smile still somehow reassuring despite the situation. "Hinata is already getting what she needs. She'll be fine without our help." He turned towards Hinata and nodded reassuringly, though Hinata thought she could see sadness in the gesture.

"But that's not the point! It's so we all can spend ti—"

Kakashi's grip on Tadashii's shoulder intensified and the boy stopped talking immediately. Pointing his student in the direction they were originally heading, Kakashi bowed politely and said, "Farewell Hinata-sama and may your Council meeting go well."

Hinata reluctantly returned the bow and replied, "T-t-thank you, Kakashi-sempai."

His face once again serious, Kakashi lead Tadashii down the road, Sasuke and Sakura following close behind him.

"Bye Hinata," Sakura yelled as she walked off.

"B-bye," she muttered, the stone sidewalk upon which they walked that separated them from the cobbled road suddenly fascinating to her.

"Come Hinata-sama. We do not want to miss the meeting."

Hinata nodded and began walking again, though every once in a while she glanced behind her to see the quickly diminishing forms of Team 7.

As they rounded the corner towards the gigantic Hokage Tower in which the Council Chambers resided, Hinata caught a glimpse of a silver-haired boy with captivating red eyes staring at her with a strange expression on his face. Of course, she could only see half of his face as he had a neck cover that concealed everything below the tip of nose. However, it looked like he wanted to talk to her, for his right arm was at the level of chest as if he wanted to wave at something…presumably her.

Whether it was because his eyes reminded her of Kurenai-sensei's or because his face seemed incredibly familiar to her, Hinata smiled at him.

The boy's eyes widened at her smile.

Hinata immediately regretted what she'd done. How presumptuous of her to think that some random stranger—apparently an Ame shinobi from the looks of his hitai-ate—wanted to say hello to her just because—

Out of nowhere, the boy smiled in a manner eerily similar to the way Kakashi-sempai usually did, with his eyes conveying all of his happiness.

With that, he walked off into the crowd, his face looking happier than she'd ever seen in a person since…since a very long time.

Hinata stared after him long after he'd disappeared from her view and had to be addressed by Kinrou directly to get her to come out of her reverie. The encounter was so…odd. Why had he been looking at _her_? His gaze was a far cry from the admiring expressions of visitors, eager to see the heiress to the royalty of Konoha. The look in the boy's eyes…it was if he knew her.

Hinata's thoughts were so consumed with the mystery of the Ame nin that she wasn't even aware that the meeting she'd dreaded for days had been going on until her father told her it was time to head home to begin training.

* * *

"Hotel Hospitality," Naruto muttered.

"Quite original, that," Anko added as she stood beside him, her gaze focused on the three-story building in front of them. "It does have a certain ring to it," she admitted casually, "kind of like—what's that in poems?"

"Alliteration," Naruto replied blankly, his red eyes never leaving the colorful stone architecture and small, cheap statues.

"Yeah, alliteration! Great stuff. It's like '_Ho_tel _Ho_spitality'."

Anko turned away thoughtfully, then exclaimed, "You could almost make it one word!"

With that discovery made, Anko began amusing herself by creating different variations of the combination.

Naruto ignored her feeble attempts to lighten his mood. Though, he supposed even Anko would be hard-pressed to raise him up from the dark pits into which he'd descended.

It had started after he'd seen Hinata. When he'd first noticed her shy figure amidst the four resolute Hyuuga guards, Naruto had had no idea who she was…only that she was very, _very _familiar. A few moments of concentration and staring at her had finally brushed the dust off of his memories. She was Hyuuga Hinata, heiress to the Hyuuga Clan and a wielder of the Byakugan. Most importantly, however, she was a member of the Rookie Nine.

When he'd remembered that, Naruto had been so overjoyed that he almost rushed over and hugged her. Then he'd remembered and realized several things in one dreadful moment.

First, he realized that his joy was akin to the joy of seeing a lost friend or relative and he shouldn't feel anything remotely similar to that for a member of his former Genin class. Second, greeting Hinata would reveal his identity, bearing obvious repercussions for their mission. Third…the third reason that obliterated Naruto's impulse was that he hated himself for wanting to go to the girl in the first place. He was supposed to not care about them, even hate them. How could he feel joy at the sight of those who'd been able to go on with their lives while he nearly had to give up his life here? Yes, it was a life that many would've deemed despicable and wretched, but it was still _his _life. The villagers' rejection of him could not take that away, nor could they deprive him of his friends. Unfortunately, the fact remained that that life was gone forever while the rest of them were still able to live normal lives…to be around those they loved.

But when Hinata had noticed him staring at her and then smiled at him, happiness replaced his despair in an instant. Why?

That happiness had eventually begun to deteriorate as he had vainly tried to navigate through the bustling streets and alleys of his former village. After an hour had passed, they had still been unable to find their living quarters and Naruto had finally given in to Anko's request that they seek directions. Ten minutes later, they were standing in front of the hotel and Anko began talking about the alliteration involved in creating Hotel Hospitality's name.

It wasn't travel fatigue that had dampened Naruto's mood. It was the fact that everything about his home—every alley, every street, every cramped little food stand that he'd stolen food from as a child when his own ran out—had changed or disappeared completely beneath the firm strength of stone and progress. In other words, Konoha had moved on. Naruto hadn't.

_Guess a statue and an annual memorial session were out of the question_, he joked to himself humorlessly.

What _was _he expecting? Konoha's citizens weeping and depressed four years after his heroic sacrifice to save his friends, while possibly a fantasy of his, was obviously not going to be the case; but some acknowledgment, _any _acknowledgement, that he had lived and died would be have been adequate.

_Maybe the cenotaph_, he wondered hopefully. _I probably couldn't find it_, he answered almost immediately, his gloom easily apparent to him. _Even if I did, my name might not even be there._

In a very unwelcome instant, Gouzen poked him the shoulder, the frenetic tapping enough to indicate to Naruto that his energetic teammate had noticed his bad temper.

"What's buggin' ya shorty," he asked with thinly veiled laughter in his voice. It was a favorite pastime of the genin to elicit some kind of reaction from his teammate. He'd failed miserably so far. For some reason, he'd chosen this time to fulfill his goal. Though Gouzen's efforts were only meant to be playful (and to impress Anko), he obviously didn't know when his childish teasing was inappropriate.

Rage erupted within Naruto's head, but he made every effort to keep it from his voice. He replied simply and quietly, "Be quiet Gouzen."

Anko stopped talking and glanced worriedly at the both of them. Gouzen's only response was for his smirk to turn feral. He responded quickly, "Finally struck a nerve, have I? 'Bout damn time you stopped bein' so fucking cool and arrogant—"

"If you do not silence that insufferable flap of a mouth, I will kill you."

He didn't yell or scream it. He didn't even move. All he did do was turn his crimson eyes upon Gouzen and state what he was going to do inin the calmest voice he could manage. If Gouzen continued to antagonize him, Naruto would kill him.

Naruto regretted his words as soon as he said them once he saw the pained look on Anko's face. Adding to his guilt was his belief in _Seidaku_, a philosophy which did not condone any uncontrolled anger. The fact that Naruto regularly ignored _Seidaku _was beside the point. Uninhibited rage, which death threats fell under nicely, was a serious setback in the process of becoming a complete shinobi. Despite this guilt, however, Naruto made no outward sign that he cared what either Anko or Gouzen thought and simply returned to staring at the hotel.

He did notice Gouzen glance skeptically at Anko. Just as it seemed like he was ready to make a sarcastic response, Anko, her face suddenly pale and her lips drawn tightly over her face, wrapped her hand around Gouzen's shoulder and gave a short, quick shake of her head. Gouzen was stunned at this abrupt change in his crush's demeanor and reluctantly abided her wishes.

Inwardly, Naruto sighed with relief that Anko had shut the fool up. He didn't think Pain, or the Konoha authorities for that matter, would appreciate a dead body on their hands on the first day of the Exam. Still, that wouldn't have stopped him from enjoying it…as long as Anko wasn't around and he didn't think about the philosophical quandary it would leave him in.

This brought Naruto back to that incident. Ever since Anko had pressed her tear-stained face into his hair, Naruto had vowed never to "comfort" his targets again. This oath had lasted surprisingly long, until he found himself alone on a mission one day with a young woman mewling for her mother several yards away from him. That had been one of his more…satisfying moments. It was especially enjoyable because not only had he not engaged in the practice for quite some time, but he had also known how rare it was for a dying person to be so vocal. Usually they words were softer than a whisper and Naruto couldn't hear them needing him—

His hand unconsciously shot to his head and gripped it, as if holding in some terrible beast. As a more lucid part of him expected, Naruto soon felt Anko's rough hand tenderly wrap around his own.

He opened his eyes. He hadn't even realized he'd closed them. The absence of light was too comforting to leave willingly, he reasoned. Glancing at Anko, he gave her as reassuring a smile as he could manage and gently wiggled out of her grasp.

Holding her iron gaze for only a moment, Naruto turned away and walked into the hotel. The Chuunin Exams were going to begin tomorrow, leaving them with around eight hours to find and, if they were extremely lucky, acquire their target. They would most likely have to wait for the Exams to go on for some time before they made their move. It would have to be perfect though. From the report he'd read, Sabaku no Gaara would not simply allow them to capture him so they could rip the Bijuu out of his body.

* * *

Juujun Annyui passed a tired hand over her face. When it ran across what felt like the beginnings of a wrinkle, it took all of her willpower to keep from screaming in frustration. She shouldn't have been surprised really. Her job was quite taxing on one's patience.

After a certain incident that was too ashamed to allow into visual memory, the Hokage had, amazingly, transferred her to a position that paid a lot more and actually held promise for advancement. Annyui was no fool when it came to recognizing hidden messages. The Hokage wanted the incident with _him _to be kept quiet and her promotion of sorts was a way to encourage to her keep her silence. Six years of hard work later and she was the second-in-command of a rising hotel business. Considering what could have happened, she was quite pleased with the outcome.

_Maybe I should have thanked the brat_, she joked to herself. This thought, however, immediately brought up a more serious one, _I guess I shouldn't talk about him like that. He did die fighting Konoha's enemies. Though, only he would be foolish enough to die while under Uchiha-san's command. _

She frowned, then shrugged and resumed lecturing her new secretary on how to handle the massive influx of foreign shinobi entering Konoha. The girl's nervousness was quite vexing and prevented her from treating her customers with anything similar to the respect their business was known for…or would be known for once they started branching out into other villages. Nevertheless, the girl seemed impossible to teach and Annyui found her incredibly frustrating.

Just as the inclination to smack her employee upside the head entered her mind, the delightful sound of their doorbell sung throughout the room and drew her attention.

A pleasant and kind smile, practiced for hours in front of a mirror, instantly spread across her face as she waited for her future customer to step through the door.

"Greetings and welcome to Hotel Hospitality," she announced amicably as an Ame nin with silver hair, crimson eyes, and an intimidating sword strapped to the waist of his back appeared before her. He was flanked by two other ninja, a boy and a girl, who looked at least a year older than him. Despite that, the boy seemed to be their leader.

_Must be one of those prodigies_, she realized disdainfully, smug thoughts of Hyuuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke—true prodigies who would put a farce such as this one to shame—running through her head.

Regardless of her initial feelings, Annyui's demeanor did not change in the slightest and she continued, her head bowed in respect, "May I assume you already have a reservation made sir?"

The boy didn't answer. Instead, he merely stared at her with an incredulous expression on his face.

Her past frustration with her secretary returning to her thoughts, Annyui quickly and politely asked, "Sir?"

The boy blinked. Then, for a reason Annyui could only guess at, a small smirk, only a corner of which she could see beneath his collar, spread across his face. The mirth in his eyes, however, was unmistakable. A memory, one that she had longed buried due to its horrendous humiliation, abruptly broke through her thoughts:

_The last thing she saw was Uzumaki Naruto staring down at her with a look of concern, before a victorious smirk began inching its way across his face._

Her eyes widened in horror. The boy standing before her…could he…?

Annyui stared into his eyes desperately, searching for any sign of the demon that had nearly gotten her killed.

All she received in return was a very confused looking Ame shinobi with facial features not even remotely similar to the impish child that had insulted her over half a decade ago.

"Is there something wrong?" the boy asked curiously, his voice, despite only beginning to mature, expertly containing a socially acceptable hint of annoyance.

Annyui's cheeks reddened slightly, "A-apologies sir. You simply reminded me of someone I once knew. Perhaps you would like to enter your room now?"

The boy's gave a short nod and replied, "I would greatly appreciate that. My name's Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru."

Grateful that the boy didn't press her about the true reason behind her odd behavior, Annyui hurriedly checked their room number and then handed him their corresponding key.

"Thank you for choosing Hotel Hospitality and enjoy your stay," she said cheerfully as she handed them the key.

Much to her consternation, the girl standing behind the boy grinned wickedly at her when she caught her eye. Her mysterious orbs held a mocking glint in them as Annyui spoke her scripted line.

Trying her best to ignore her, Annyui waited patiently for the boy to take the key in her outstretched hand. He reached out, gently plucked it from her fingers, and then gave her a short bow. Annyui graciously motioned towards the stairs, to which they immediately walked to.

When they disappeared up the newly painted staircase, the secretary remarked sarcastically, a barely contained snicker in her voice, "I didn't know staring a customer down was the _respectful_ way to greet them."

Annyui looked around for any sign of a customer. Seeing no one, she smacked the girl with the palm of her hand upside the head and sighed pleasantly as the girl shrieked. For all the bad things she'd heard about venting one's anger, she couldn't deny the peace that settled over her as she listened to her subordinate's angry curses.

* * *

Three beds with fluffy pillows and sheets as soft as a dove greeted the three Ame genin when they opened the brightly painted door to their room. Anko sighed contentedly as she fell upon the sea green comforter, curling up like a cat as she dug her face into its luxurious comfort.

"Uhhhh," she groaned audibly. Anko would have been perfectly content to lay upon the bed forever.

A slight depression in the surface she so happily slumbered upon alerted her to Naruto sitting behind her. His sword and tanto rested against the wall near a less extravagant door, if by 'less extravagant' you meant a pleasant, light mahogany color.

Examining what she could see of the room from where she rested, Anko realized that the room would probably have bored a hole in her savings if she'd been the one to pay for it. Thankfully, Pain-sama had obliged in that regard.

Starting with an ornate rug that held designs reminiscent of Southern Island art Anko had once seen in a book, the room was lined with small paintings from every corner of the shinobi world. Colors abounded everywhere, creating a surprisingly tolerable canopy of the different cultures of the land. The third bed lay a little more than a foot from the large window that exposed them to the lively streets of Konoha. Between the yard-long margin that separated second and third beds was a wooden table painted a color similar to the door that—as Anko found out when Gouzen cautiously opened it—led to an almost disappointingly small bathroom. The rest of the room was occupied with two cabinets, a small table for eating, and a desk bearing a small lamp in the shape of a famous Iwagakure statue.

"How'd they afford all this?" Gouzen asked incredulously.

"They're not real baka," Anko muttered with a roll of her eyes.

Gouzen blushed and glanced back at the pictures hopefully, as if looking to them for a response. Finding none, he came up with own, "They _look _real."

She turned her face into the sheets and sighed happily, her contentment too strong to be dimmed even in the face of Gouzen's ignorance. A slight tap to her shoulder ruined that.

"What is it," she asked, groaning when she saw Naruto's cheerful face. Glaring at him, she inquired, in what she felt was the proper tone for the situation, "Do we have to _now_?"

Winking at her, he replied, "Yep. We've only got a few hours until Konoha's night guard starts patrolling the streets, so we need to get as much info as we can on our target."

Anko frowned, but kept her lower face covered in the sheets. She knew what Naruto was doing. Guilty over lashing out at Gouzen, he was trying to prove his humanity to her by being…himself; or rather, the self that he knew she loved. The silent and cold boy that had threatened to kill someone as if it was second nature was a side of Naruto she never wanted to see…ever.

Still, he was getting better at keeping his impulses in check. To think that in only seven months of no real human contact, Naruto had become so _demonic_ made her heart break into thousands of little pieces. Who knows how he would've turned out if she hadn't come along? Four years later and he was regaining himself.

_Of course, if I hadn't "come along", I'd have been long dead or scrounging for food like a beggar. _

She suppressed a shudder at the thought. The truth was that Anko needed Naruto as much as he needed her. It felt good to be able to rely on someone. It felt even better when they could rely on you as well.

"Oi, can't we rest first?"

She smiled at the grin Gouzen's question brought to Naruto's face. Their newest teammate might display very—she chuckled—Naruto-ish qualities most of the time, but she couldn't help but think there was genius behind his foolishness. What better way to get your enemies to underestimate you than by pretending to overestimate yourself?

Despite the annoying comments he made, Gouzen seemed to cheer Naruto up, maybe even reminding him of a time when Naruto was that energetic and excited. Now, however, his demeanor was usually subdued and thoughtful, like an old man's. Even his anger seemed held back, which actually made it all the more frightening.

She smirked, "Hey, Jinkou-ojisan!"

Naruto turned towards her just in time to see her foot slam into his chest, knocking him onto the ground with loud _thump_.

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and looked down at him. Anko had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the sight of him. Her body shaking with repressed laughter, she asked him in a mock impudent voice, "Where'd you get the idea that you could order me around?"

Naruto glowered at her, "I feel like I've been in this position before."

A thought entered Anko's mind that made her eyes widen and cheeks blush.

"Somethin' the matter," Naruto asked curiously, his red eyes locked onto her face.

Flashing a mischievous grin at him in an attempt to hide her blush, she responded, "Maybe somethin's the matter with you."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, but narrowed immediately, "What have you done fiend?"

Anko snorted in a partially failed attempt to keep from laughing, "You worry too much. Maybe you need to _lighten _up a bit."

The corners of her now pursed lips twitched ever so slightly as she watched Naruto try to process the "hint" she had given him. In reality, Anko had done nothing whatsoever to her friend. She had, however, done many things to him in the past that had made him terribly afraid of she might do to him in the future. Seeing him squirm was a joy she didn't think she'd ever stop loving.

After several moments of thought, Naruto asked suspiciously, "You callin' me fat?"

Anko let out a laugh and shook her head.

A moment of self-examination later and Naruto glanced up at her again and said, his voice absent of emotion, "You didn't do anything to me, did you?"

Anko shook her head, a delighted smile on her face all the while.

Naruto glared at her, before pulling himself back up and shaking his head at her and told her in a voice mocking a priest, "Karma's a bitch y'know. Just think of what the gods are gonna do to you after you die. They might make you a fish, a bug…or a man!"

Her hands clapped together in mockery of some of the western religions they'd encountered during their travels, she begged him, "You don't think…not me!"

Naruto shrugged helplessly, "I'll do what I can, but odds are your gonna have a little less up top and a bit more down below."

Anko sighed in despair and asked doubtfully, "Is there anything I can do?"

Stroking his chin thoughtfully, he suddenly exclaimed, "There is, my dearest Anko! You can aid me in capturing the ferocious and terrifying demon of the Sand! By doing so, your karma should shoot up at least ten to fifteen points!"

"How many do I need?"

"Current count is 'bout two hundred."

She chuckled and stood up, arching her body in much the same manner as she had on the bed. Taking off her massive knives and setting them beside Naruto's weapons, she asked, "What's the plan?"

Crossing his arms over his chest, Naruto replied seriously, "We can cover more ground if we split up. Besides, we'll be easier to track if we're in a group. I'd like to stay as high above the streets as possible too, but I think the ANBU might be watching for that. If that is, in fact, the case, then we can still travel through the crowds acting like awed tourists whose habit of staring intently at certain things—like, say, a boy with a giant gourd on his back—is more out of curiosity than stalking."

Gouzen groaned and asked, "Why are we spying on some kid from Suna when we could be out enjoying one of the biggest ninja villages on the continent?"

Naruto glanced at Anko and cocked an eyebrow in confusion. Apparently, Gouzen had no idea what Sabaku no Gaara actually was, which, she realized, was probably a good thing. She shook her head in response, then turned back to Gouzen and responded, "That's the mission Pa—Our Lord gave to us and you're expected to follow it without question. Is that clear?"

Gouzen's countenance became completely serious and he nodded vigorously in response.

Grinning at Naruto, she nodded for him to continue.

"We're going to split up completely," he said calmly. "Anko and you will scout out the area where most of the Suna nin are being housed. Since I'm the fastest of us, I'll scout out the two areas beside it. If you get into trouble," he looked specifically at Gouzen, who gave a low growl in response, "do what you do best: act like an idiot."

His eyes turned up cheerfully, Naruto ignored Gouzen's shout of indignation and pulled out two small scrolls within his cloak, both of which he threw to his angry teammate. Gouzen caught them and stopped his rant immediately, one of his eyebrows raised in confusion.

"Those scrolls," Naruto explained, "contain one clone each. If you get into trouble with the ANBU or a comparable authority figure, act like an idiot and pretend you hold a grudge against someone. Pick whatever shinobi nationality is in front of you and start a fist fight with them. If you're on the roof, ignore any words an ANBU might say to you if they catch you up there, start ranting about how you're going to kick some really strong opponent's ass or something and then claim you wanna spy on them to get good info. If the person—or persons—actually starts getting serious, I want you to run away like a coward."

"What?"

Naruto blinked, then repeated, "If the person—or persons—"

"I heard what you said gaki," Gouzen interrupted angrily, "but I'm a little confused why you'd want me to draw attention to myself like that and then make our team look like a bunch of weaklings."

Anko and Naruto stared at Gouzen blankly, until realization suddenly shone in their teammate's eyes. Moaning, he asked, "Do we have to?"

"Yes," Naruto replied indifferently.

"But we'll make Ame look bad!"

"That's the point, baka," Anko snarled. "We make everyone discount us and we're less likely to be watched. When the time is right, we'll use you—or whoever created the first distraction—as bait to lure Konoha off of us so we can kill Gaara's team and kidnap him. Our _hitodama bunshin* _will take our place so we can get back to Ame without anyone suspecting otherwise. We are not here to win the Exams."

Gouzen recoiled from her words—for which Anko felt a little bad—but soon came back with a valid point, "What if the person who makes the distraction—a.k.a. _me_—gets imprisoned? I'm tough, but I've heard some…bad things about Konoha's Interrogation Corps. People say they're the best. Besides, what if I don't need to make a distraction today anyway?"

"You won't get imprisoned," Naruto replied reassuringly. "We'll be there to back you up and," he raised his hands apologetically, "make you look like a dumbass whose temper can't be checked. As for not making the first distraction, it would actually be better that you didn't. That's just a contingency plan."

Anko was impressed that Gouzen didn't get angry at the comment that he couldn't control his temper and was even more impressed by his next question, "Do you really think Konoha nin are going to disregard my 'rants' based on assumptions? This is the first Chuunin Exam since the end of the war. They won't let anything under the noses if it poses any chance of pissin' people off!"

"Excellent point," Naruto admitted with a slight inclination of his head, "but that is exactly what will allow us to succeed. These are strained times and Konoha can't afford to allow anything to ignite another war. However, they also can't afford to imprison everybody who still has bad feelings over the fighting. With the thousands upon thousands of people here, there's probably going to be a lot who're angry or frustrated over friends and family killed during the war. You'll fit right in."

Gouzen's brief moment of maturity evaporated when Naruto's plan was finally explained to him and he flashed them a very childish, Naruto-ish grin, "So I'm gonna trick these dumbasses? Ha! I'm so awesome! It's no wonder you picked me for this part of the mission. No one else could pull it off!"

"You got that right," Anko muttered under her breath.

Gouzen bowed respectfully to Naruto and nearly sprinted out the door.

"_Shissurunakare goshujin shimei_*," Naruto called out warningly.

"_Shissurunakare goshujin kenshiki_*," he yelled back happily.

Anko smirked when she saw the grin once again light up on Naruto's face at his teammate's response. Gouzen, Anko realized, was yet another of Naruto's anchors to humanity. They kept him from losing himself in Pain and Konan's dream.

_I think I'm starting to agree with them_, she admitted as Naruto nodded to her and walked out of the room, picking up his tanto and strapping it on as closed the door behind him. _Konan and Pain…they may not show it, but even I can tell they care about Naruto. Naruto told me they started ignoring him after his first kill. Maybe they wanted him to figure out how to deal with the guilt on his own, make it so he didn't need to depend on them. But why—oh. In case they died…but I think they went about the wrong way. Naruto was fragile and confused. He still is. His friends had just betrayed him when Konan found him and from what Naruto told me about his life…that nearly killed him. He needs someone to guide him a little of the way…but he has to figure out his purpose on his own. The dream of Pain and Konan isn't enough. He needs something personal, something he can hold onto and see every day. Something like…me._

Anko's eyes widened and she quickly pushed the thought away.

_The last thing a gaki like Naruto needs_, she reasoned, _is someone holding his hand until he gets over himself. Besides, I don't have to think about this. I've got a kid to find with a giant gourd on his back and, from that neat little report Konan made us read, a few personality disorders. _

After checking the summoning seals on her arms, Anko casually batted a violet strand of hair out of her eyes. Giving a contemptuous sneer at the chakra prevention seal on her arm, Anko made a few handsigns and slammed her palm into the ground:

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

To the naked eye, there was nothing that appeared from within the cloud of smoke that erupted under Anko's hand. Anko, however, could clearly see the silky ripple of her sentry snake. It's lack of physical mass made it child's play to summon, meaning that the chakra she used to perform the jutsu was below the limit set on her by the seal.

"Karasuhebi," she asked the featureless snake, "I need you to guard the room. Don't let anybody in unless Gouzen, Naruto, or I send out the usual chakra signature. Eliminate or capture anybody else. If they're too powerful for that, use your technique and I'll owe ya one. Do you understand?"

The snake inclined its head and dissipated throughout the room, its watery form rippling for a moment before disappearing entirely.

Satisfied, Anko turned around and walked out the door, shutting it behind her. After placing several seals on the wooden frame, she made her way down the stairs, a small smile dancing on her lips as she thought about the upcoming fights. Though she never wanted to see Naruto engage in his "ritual" after killing, Anko herself couldn't think of anything that she enjoyed more than fighting other shinobi. The rush of risking her life, the pleasantly smooth feeling of running her kunai through another's flesh—Anko couldn't get enough, especially when Naruto was with her.

_What Naruto does is different_, she thought, not questioning her line of thinking in any way whatsoever, _because he does _that_ after they've got nothing left to tell. Torture's fine with me so long as the person being tortured has got something worth torturing them over. That ritual, though…I think he _enjoys_ it. Naruto…Naruto shouldn't be like that. He just shouldn't._

Anko sighed as she reached the bottom of the stairs and headed towards the door. Her mood was instantly lifted when she caught the secretary's eye and leered at her, prompting the poor girl to quickly look back down towards her work.

She kind of regretted doing it, but there was just something so _appealing_ about seeing someone tremble and sputter with fear—

_NO! That's not what I mean at all! That's something _he _would say. I just like the rush of battle. Yeah, that's all it is._

Anko's finger unconsciously slid her finger over the kunai hidden in her sleeve, admiring the sharp, precise edge that threatened to cut open her flesh. She couldn't deny the excitement of fighting in the Exams against other shinobi, even if they weren't really trying to win.

A slight trill of pleasure ran through her at the thought of her and Naruto slicing through their enemies, the stunned expressions on their faces as they died only adding to the sensation as it coursed through her veins.

Despite her doubts and assurances, Anko could not suppress a delighted giggle from escaping her mouth.

_We're going to have so much fun!_

_

* * *

_

Wind blew through his long hair as he sailed through the crowd, his presence nothing more than a gentle breeze against the skin of those he flew past.

Naruto went into a dark alley and stopped, becoming visible to the naked eye once more. He took a deep breath and then exhaled quickly, mentally picturing his anxiety leaving his body in one fluid motion. Closing his eyes and then opening them, Naruto looked up and spotted the _issui _of three ANBU. Some of their _issui _were moving in his direction, indicating that the elite ninja were aware of his presence and watching him.

He was glad his jutsu didn't use a lot of chakra and that it apparently hadn't merited the concern of the ANBU above him. Naruto had made it look like a Shunshin for a reason. Still, a foreign ninja appearing in a dark alley for no perceptible reason was an oddity that the ever watchful ANBU would not overlook. It was unavoidable. He had limited time to find Gaara and this jutsu was the fastest, stealthiest, and most chakra efficient method that Naruto possessed to travel through large numbers of people.

It also made good use of the _issui_, something Naruto was keen to do considering the new knowledge he'd gained over the years about the "swirls". He'd changed the name of the radiant streams of light revealed to him by his names around two years ago. To call them "currents" was far more accurate than describing them as random movements.

Taking a final glance at the ANBU, Naruto turned around and disappeared into the crowd. He sifted through the constantly moving throng of people like a breeze across the sea, barely noticed by people too busy and too involved in their own paths to notice him.

Naruto stopped in the middle of the throng, earning him several glares and curses. He searched for any notable _issui_ flowing in his direction, expertly sifting through the incredible flow of light. Noticing nothing, Naruto formed a ram seal in front of his body and muttered "Soyokaze no Jutsu". He squinted his eyes in a slight grimace as his body allowed the _issui_ to enter his body.

He soared forth in a great rush, his body once again bending so quickly with the _issui_ that he was as a breeze against their bodies. Anyone who'd passed a glance in his direction the moment before he activated the jutsu would have thought he was a figment of their imagination.

Naruto searched in this manner for quite some time, constantly checking the crowd for unusually frenetic _issui_ that might have given him a clue to Gaara's location. "Might" being the operative word of course. Naruto really had no idea what a Jinchuriki's _issui _felt like and that was assuming that it was different from a non-Jinchuriki's. For all he knew, they could be exactly the same as a regular person's _issui_.

_I got a pretty good feeling about this_, he reassured himself as he swirled around a richly dressed woman leading her equally ostentatious daughter and son through the crowd._ I mean, when you got a demon in your stomach whose chakra incarnate, your body's gonna undergo some changes. There's gotta be somethin' differe—there!_

It was only a touch, but Naruto felt a single _issui_ shoot through his bicep, creating a dull numbing effect throughout his entire arm.

_Killer intent_, he realized as his arm regained feeling.

Swirling left towards the direction of the swirl, Naruto sped through alleyways and dark street corners in pursuit of the increasingly strong _issui _that pierced his body like icy darts. He ignored them easily.

One of the first things Pain and Konan had trained him in after his incident with Anko was facing killer intent. He supposed it was because of the paralyzing effects Anko's own killer intent, influenced by the mark, had on him when he'd angered her. Naruto remembered Pain giving a short summary of the nature of killer intent before suddenly finding himself being blown up over and over again while he watched Sakura and Sasuke flee into the forest. After receiving such training for four years, Anko's killer intent seemed completely insignificant in comparison. This was no different.

But it was far too potent for a boy Naruto's age to possess and that created a worm of doubt within Naruto's gut.

When the _issui _began to become a continuous stream, Naruto ceased his motion, landed behind a tall wooden fence and deactivated his jutsu. Glancing at the fence, Naruto suddenly felt like he'd seen it before. In a pleasant flash of recognition, Naruto remembered running through the dirt streets in search of friends to play with and passing this very same fence as he did so. It looked as strong and sturdy as it did all those years ago. The thought brought a smile to his face as thoughts of the pleasant dirt that had made up Konoha's roads back then entered his mind. Unconsciously, he looked down to see if they were still there, certain that it had been replaced by the rigid surface of stone.

His eyes widened in surprise. The streets were still made of the warm soil that had comforted the villagers' feet since Konoha's founding. A small seed of hope sprouted within him and he frantically gazed around the area he'd landed in.

All of the buildings were made of wood…and he recognized every single one of them.

A delighted smile lit up his face like a full moon illuminated the cool darkness of night. He understood now. The stone architecture and cobbled streets, how unfamiliar and alien everything had felt to him before—Konoha hadn't changed, but had merely built a complex, intimidating mask to hide its true self from other nations always looking to exploit any weakness it might have. No matter despicable his life had been here, Naruto couldn't forsake the love and warmth that the sight of these buildings, whose comforting frames bore his small weight when he cried against them, stirred up within him.

_I may never come back here again,_ he thought,_ but this…this was good to see. Konoha's changing, but there's still a piece of me here._

Naruto sighed happily and turned away, his goal still vivid within his mind.

"Watch where you're goin' you little brat," a brusque voice yelled out suddenly, prompting Naruto to flatten himself against the fence and quickly unsheathe his tanto. Carefully edging himself towards the edge of the fence, Naruto poked his head past the wooden frame and quickly evaluated the _issui _flowing around the group of people twenty yards away from him.

_Seven of the—no, eight in the immediate vicinity_, he counted mentally._ Three in plain sight, three about fifteen yards west of here, and two hiding. One of them's Gaara._

He followed the insanely fast swirls up to the roof of a building and spotted a boy with a large gourd on his back and red hair.

_That's our guy_, Naruto thought excitedly. Now that he had him in his sights and recognized his _issui _patterns, Naruto could follow him to his residence and formulate a plan to capture him. There were two things that bothered him, however. One, why was Gaara here? Two, why didn't anyone notice his killer intent?

Naruto looked back at the group and frowned, trying to discern the answers to his questions. He was right. None of them seemed to notice Gaara or his killer intent. If they did, they would at least be having some kind of reaction to it. Gaara apparently had some control over it, or at least enough to hide it from other people.

"I don't care if he meant it or not! This little punk needs to learn some manners…"

Naruto scowled at the speaker, whose loud voice had drawn his attention to the scene in the first place, but was now impeding his observation and evaluation of the situation. Nearly four years of trying to decipher the complex language of the _issui _had made Naruto very good at reading the slow and clumsy body movements of humans. As a result, Naruto had no trouble picking out who the speaker was.

Dressed in an all black suit with an equally black hat that had two points on top—giving it an odd resemblance to something an overzealous owner might put on their dog—the speaker bore an odd, human-shaped item on his back that had a tuft of brown hair sticking out of it. Any other characteristic the thing might have had was completely covered by white wrapping. His height and weight made Naruto guess his was around a year older than himself. Of course, this wasn't saying much since there were many people his own age that were taller and bigger than Naruto was.

"Drop him Kankuro," a rough, yet obviously feminine voice called out. This immediately drew Naruto's attention to the girl standing beside the boy, apparently named Kankuro. She had dirty blonde hair tied into four short ponytails that diverged from the center of her head. Just like her companion, she bore a large object on her back. In her case, it was a metal pillar, though the slight gaps in between the metal suggested that it may have been able to open up.

"These worms aren't worth the effort," she continued. Because of the distance between them, Naruto had trouble making out their words and the tone in which they were spoken. He was fairly certain, however, that there was something similar to disdain in her voice as she reprimanded her companion.

"Butt out Temari! This little shit's got it comin'. I'm just doin' the next innocent traveler a favor by teaching him some manners."

Temari waved her hand dismissively, "Fine, but make it quick. I don't want to agitate _him_."

If Kankuro had heard her, he gave no indication to the fact. He cocked back his fist to hit whatever he was holding out in front of him.

"L-let me go you big idiot!"

Naruto blinked. That voice, obviously coming from the victim of Kankuro's wrath, sounded incredibly familiar.

"You hit me, and my grandpa will lock you up forever!"

Naruto could have easily imagined Kankuro sneering as he replied, "Callin' on your old man for help you little baby? What is he, the Hokage?"

"_Yes he is!_"

This revelation was enough to stop Kankuro's incoming fist instantly and draw Temari's attention directly onto the child, the silhouette of a gape on her face clearly visible to Naruto.

The boy used this momentary distraction to kick Kankuro in the groin, causing the larger teen to drop him. The boy then rolled off to the side and into a battle stance, confirming his identity without a doubt.

_You've grown…Konohamaru_, Naruto thought nostalgically, memories of the small hyperactive child running through the Hokage's office and constantly begging to go on a mission vividly apparent in his mind.

He watched in wonder and anxiety as the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage withdrew two kunai from his pants' pockets and prepared to do battle. Naruto realized that he might have to step in to protect Konohamaru from Kankuro's wrath, which wasn't being helped by the mocking laughter of Temari right beside him. Even with the knowledge that his target was related to the Hokage, Kankuro seemed like the kind of person who'd ignore thatto get even…with no small amount of interest.

"Stop it Konohamaru. _Now!_"

Naruto, along with the three participants in the "battle", turned in surprise towards the newest speaker. He couldn't see her—for her voice was definitely that of girl's—from behind Kankuro and Temari, but by the slight inclination of their heads she was apparently shorter than them, indicating that she might have been around Naruto's age.

This unconscious assessment was not Naruto's main concern, however. It was the newcomer's voice, so infuriatingly familiar that it put his distress over the mystery of Konohamaru's voice to shame, that drew his full and undivided attention. Gaara, for the moment, was a secondary concern.

"I'm sorry about this," the girl said, "If you could please forget this incident and forgive the boy, we would be very grateful—"

"Fuck if I care about your apology," Kankuro yelled. "This little shit ran into me and then had the balls to order me around. You don't seriously expect me to believe you're gonna punish the Hokage's grandson do you?"

He turned his head towards Konohamaru and said savagely, "Maybe a good beating will knock some sense into him."

Naruto cringed when Konohamaru's face paled and his hands started shaking.

"P-please! You don't need—"

"What're ya gonna do, girlie? Shut your mouth or you're next!"

Kankuro suddenly appeared in front of Konohamaru in what must have seemed like flash to the frightened boy. Just as he cocked back his fist, a pink-haired girl suddenly grabbed Konohamaru and rolled out of the way.

Whatever happened next meant nothing to Naruto. Not Kankuro yelling, not Temari cursing under her breath in annoyance, not Gaara suddenly appearing in swirl of sand in front of Kankuro and threatening to kill him if he didn't stop…none of it even came close to sheer horror and despair of seeing the girl only yards in front of him setting Konohamaru down gently and putting herself in front of him to protect him.

_Sakura-chan…_

_

* * *

_

Sakura eyed the newcomer warily. While he didn't seem anything like the bully behind him, she didn't want to discount the possibility and get Konohamaru killed.

There was no doubt in her mind that these Suna nin might want to kill Konohamaru. The assassination of the small boy would have been a perfect way to mentally incapacitate the Sandaime Hokage, though the likelihood of such only three years after the war was slim. Slim enough, apparently, that Konohamaru's ANBU guards felt it safe to leave their charge alone with her in order to deal with a scuffle in one of the crowded marketplaces.

The red-haired boy's next words assuaged her fears about this…but quickly replaced them with fear for her _own _life.

"Leave them alone Kankuro."

"But Gaara—"

"I will kill you if you continue," Gaara interrupted calmly.

Sakura felt a chill run down her spine. There was no hesitation in his voice. He threatened—no, it wasn't a threat. It was merely a fact. Gaara would kill his companion if he did not obey. That was it.

Never before had she heard such a blatant, almost casual promise to kill another. No enemy during the war had ever had time to try and intimidate her. They'd simply attacked each other. In fact, Sakura had not feared for her life in such a way since the war's end.

For the first time in a very long time, Sakura felt _real_ fear grip her heart. This unassuming boy, with his ridiculously sized gourd on his back and youthful, albeit tired, face, made her afraid. He was slightly shorter than her and looked physically weaker than her, yet the coldness in his eyes terrified her.

"We apologize for this," he said suddenly, no hint of meaning behind his words at all.

Sakura started and hastily replied, "I-it's f-fine."

Gaara did not say anything, instead content to merely pass his eyes over her, much like—Sakura felt her stomach twist fearfully—a wolf eyeing a potential meal.

Frowning slightly, he turned away from her with a dissatisfied look on his face and looked off into the distance. He suddenly demanded, "Tell your two friends to come out."

Sakura blinked in confusion.

"W-what do you—"

In an instant, a pale raven-haired boy appeared beside her, his dark eyes fixed solely on Gaara.

"Is there something wrong Sakura," Sasuke asked calmly. Sasuke's black orbs bored into Gaara as the Suna nin turned towards him. There was no emotion on either boy's face as they eyed each other. Sakura, however, could not help noticing the same hungry look in Gaara's eyes that he'd given her…only this time he did not turn away. Instead, something akin to excitement glowed within his cold, teal gaze and it was apparently wonderful enough to draw his dry lips into a small smile.

Despite this odd reaction to her teammate's appearance, Sakura felt relief flood through her like cold water. With Sasuke here, she felt much, much safer. Sakura knew her fear was unfounded and ridiculous. This Gaara wouldn't dare do anything outside of the tournament lest he risk starting another war. But just looking at his eyes, his smile, his hands, his face…_him_—the entirety of his being sent chills down her spine.

"No, Sasuke-kun," she muttered gratefully, "nothing's wrong now."

Sasuke gave the faintest of nods before saying in a voice loud enough to just reach anyone who might have been eavesdropping from afar, "Come out…now."

Sakura blinked in confusion and made a quick glance around the area, her senses reaching out for any foreign signature. All she found were the six of them, plus Konohamaru's two teammates, who both seemed torn between digging a hole and burying themselves in it or charging in to rescue their leader.

She sucked in her breath hard. There was something past the fence. Just a glimmer, but enough that she could tell where it had been. She directed her attention there in search of another sign, but met nothing.

Sakura quirked an eyebrow. There should have at least been some signature from the air and the organisms within. Instead, it was as if someone had carved a hole in that one space and took all the chakra out of it.

From the confused expressions on Temari and Kankuro's faces, then subsequent shift to realization, they too understood what was happening…though exactly _how_ it was happening was still up for debate.

"I said 'come out'," Sasuke repeated, his eyes slightly narrowing.

Sakura chanced a glance at Gaara. Her stomach flopped when she saw he hadn't taken his obsessive glare away from Sasuke.

Her attention was drawn away from Gaara by the sudden appearance of another boy from the spot with no chakra. He stepped out from behind the fence, but the shadow that was cast off of the wood blocked much of his face. One aspect that the shadow didn't dim was his eyes, whose crimson hue glowed from within the darkness ominously. The abruptness of his appearance was enough to make her momentarily forget about the sick leer on Gaara's face.

Sakura's relief at the newcomer's appearance was not enough to dull her suspicion of him, especially considering how he'd nullified his signature. As a result, she knew her words might have seemed somewhat harsh when she demanded, "What're you doing hiding back there?"

The boy made no response, seemingly content to stare at them.

_Not another weirdo_, she thought wearily.

"Answer her question," Sasuke said after the boy remained silent for several moments.

The crimson gaze appear to flash angrily as it turned onto Sasuke, but it soon vanished and the boy shrugged in response. Glancing at Sasuke and then Sakura one last time, the boy stepped out of the shadows, revealing long silver hair and youthful face hidden behind a tall neck cover. The metal of an Ame hitai-ate gleamed in the sunlight from its position around his right arm.

_His face_, Sakura thought curiously,_ looks kind of…familiar._

_

* * *

_

Naruto did everything he could to keep his face from betraying the horrible emotions racing through him. Sakura and Sasuke—the two people who had betrayed his friendship and left him for dead—now stood before him.

_Wh-what do I do_, he asked himself helplessly._ Four years of my life was irrevocably changed because of them. I buried myself in training and killing to forget their faces and the love they once held for me in their eyes. But there still here, still _alive_. And they've changed…just like Konoha._

It was true. Both Sasuke and Sakura looked different from the memories of them he'd buried deep within his heart. He would know. Naruto had studied their images during many long nights. It was usually during those times that he'd sneak into Anko's bed…when he was younger, anyway.

Sakura was taller than him still and her body had lost a lot of the small amount of baby fat she'd carried when she was eight. Her hair was longer and a little more vibrant. The emerald eyes that had captivated him as a child were as bright as he'd remembered, but they seemed forced somehow, as if she was putting up a front to hide some burden.

Sasuke had changed as well. Taller and leaner than both Sakura and Naruto, the raven-haired prodigy seemed completely devoid of any of the positive emotions that he'd had when Naruto was with him. Though these emotions had always been in small quantity, they had still existed and Naruto remembered suspecting that Sasuke was actually similar to himself when he was around his family. Now, however, his eyes were cold and veiled.

"Tell us your name and why the hell you're buttin' in or I'll kick your ass."

Naruto tore his gaze away from his former friends and brought it upon the annoyed, yet arrogant visage of Kankuro.

Eyeing him for a moment, Naruto decided that his best option was to play innocence…despite the horrendous pit in his stomach at the sight of Sakura and Sasuke.

Scratching the back of his head bashfully, Naruto grinned and replied, "I'm Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru. You can call me Jinkou if that's any easier. And to avoid, umm, getting my ass kicked, I was hiding from you because I—"

He stopped when he noticed Sakura staring intently at the arm behind his head, her face a mixture of confusion and recognition.

Naruto quickly placed his hand in the pocket of his hakama and continued jovially, "I was curious about the noise I heard while I was walking past that park," he jerked his thumb backwards at the area behind the fence, "and wanted to see if there was something goin' down. I wouldn't want fellow contestants to get disqualified before they even got to compete."

"That's very generous of you," Temari commented dryly. With a smirk on her face, she added, "But I guess it's to be expected from someone on the _losing _side of the war."

Naruto chuckled and scratched his cheek with his index finger, "Yeah, you're right. I wouldn't know much about the war, though."

"You didn't fight," Temari asked incredulously. "You can't be more than two years younger than me."

Naruto blushed, "W-well, I…um…I was part of the reserve force."

He muttered the last part quickly, as if hoping no one had heard him.

"The reserve force?" The volume of Kankuro's voice caused Naruto wince. His disbelief did not diminish, however, for he asked, "What the hell are you doing here then?"

Shrugging, Naruto responded, "I wouldn't know—"

The savage grin on Kankuro's face and the suddenly disinterested and superior glint in Temari's eye gave Naruto pause.

"Is something—"

"You're country can't afford to send anymore ninja, can they," Kankuro asked gleefully.

Naruto's eyes widened and he waved his hands in front of him frantically, "N-no, that's n-not tr—"

"You know Temari, I think this little runt would be _perfect _to vent my anger on. If there's one thing I hate more than rude little brats," he cast a glare at Konohamaru, who quickly stuck out his tongue before ducking behind Sakura, "it's pipsqueaks who don't know when to keep their noses out of other people's shit."

The blonde-haired girl rolled her eyes and replied, "Whatever. Just don't make it too long—"

"Enough Kankuro. We're leaving."

Kankuro turned fearfully towards his smaller companion. Obviously remembering Gaara's first threat, he nodded obediently and answered, "Y-yes Gaara."

Temari too looked as if she'd seen a ghost, for her face was pale and her eyes wide with fear.

Naruto was suddenly struck by the similarities between the scene in front of him and what had happened when he threatened to kill Gouzen. He shook the thought down with an involuntary shudder and vowed to never act in such a way ever again.

Gaara, whose eyes had still never left Sasuke's, stated in a terribly calm voice that nevertheless reeked with lust, "I look forward to fighting you, Sasuke Uchiha. You will validate my existence."

With that, the red-haired boy turned away from Sasuke and walked away, Kankuro and Temari quickly and quietly falling into step behind him.

When the Sand trio had slipped over the edge of his sight, Naruto laughed nervously and remarked, "Interesting bunch, eh?"

He looked over at Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke had already begun walking down the street Naruto had just come from. He didn't even spare Naruto a glance as he passed him, despite Naruto's half-raised hand intended to greet and thank him.

_Honestly_, Naruto thought as Sasuke also disappeared from view, _I don't know what I'd do if he did shake my hand. _

Sakura was slightly more friendly than her teammate, for she walked up to Naruto and took his partially outstretched hand into her own and shook it warmly.

His heart stopped as he looked into Sakura's kind and sympathetic eyes. A small part of Naruto mind that wasn't frozen in shock pondered how ridiculous he probably looked staring at this rather normal and kind gesture on the part of the girl he'd just tried to defend. That part of his mind, however, was not working properly and so he remained in a half-stunned gape, his eyes wide as he stared at his former teammate.

Sakura frowned and asked, a small hint of confusion in her voice, "Is something wrong Jink—um, Jinkir—"

"J-Jinkou," he stuttered suddenly, the pounding against his chest growing all the more powerful as he spewed out words fearfully, "a-and no, n-nothing's wrong. Just startled me, is all."

She eyed him suspiciously, but did not press him further and removed her hand from his own. Instead, she smiled, inclined her head in gratitude, and, her eyes twinkling mischievously, said, "Thanks for trying to defend us. That was very brave of you, hiding behind the fence like that."

Naruto could not keep the blush from his face, nor could he stay the childish indignation that took hold of his heart, "Hey! I was analyzing the situation! That looked...um…creepy! Yeah, he looked real weird. I couldn't take my chan—"

"Calm down," Sakura interrupted, a slight giggle behind her voice, "I was only kidding. By the way, my name's Haruno Sakura. If you didn't already notice—or overhear while you were 'analyzing the situation'—I'm a Konoha genin and I'm going to compete with my team in the Chuunin Exams."

Naruto grinned despite himself. Seeing her standing there, pride giving a certain energy to her words, filled Naruto with an unexplainable joy.

"You said you're competing too?"

He nodded in a start, then replied, "Yeah. My team and me's come from Ame to compete. Not very many others from our village though, so I doubt will make it to the finals. At least, they won't make it if they have my particularly brand of 'courage'."

Sakura giggled and responded mirthfully, "Ah well. Maybe your Academy will actually spawn a brave shinobi one of these days."

"Aw Sakura-chan! How can you be so—"

The pit in his stomach that been slowly melting away now sent icy shards throughout his body, freezing him and his words in their tracks.

The cause for this had something to do with the stunned expression on Sakura's face…and perhaps because he'd called her by a name few ever did.

"W-what did you call me?"

Widened eyes, trembling lips, pale skin devoid of all color and life—she looked terrified and horrified in one awful mixture of despair.

_Sakura-chan_, he thought sadly. _I haven't said that in a long time. How strange that just talking to her, even after what she did to me, could elicit such a slip-up. Regardless, I need to fix this. She can never know about me. We can never have a moment like this again…ever._

"Is something wrong, Sakura," he asked in the most curious and innocent voice he could manage. "I deeply apologize if I was getting too familiar. I tend to get a little too excited when making acquaintances. If you would prefer I avoid that suffix—"

"Yes," she said immediately and quietly, her lips drawn into a tight line, "I would very much like that."

Naruto allowed surprise to show on his face, prompting Sakura to quickly respond, "I-I'm sorry. It's not you. It's just that…I had a friend during the war who used to call me that all the time. When he died…"

Her voice trailed off, obviously intended to show the pain it brought her to discuss the subject.

Though her voice trembled and her face bore all the signs of burden and loss, Naruto could not deny the rage rumbling inside his chest.

_When I _died, he asked himself furiously. _Don't you mean, 'When I left him for dead'? Don't you mean, 'When I let him blow himself to hell so I could survive, then __**fled like a miserable coward**__'__**!**_

Naruto closed his eyes, breathed in silently, and then exhaled. He'd nearly given in to anger again. All he could think about now whenever he saw her crushed visage was how pathetic she looked. It would do no good if he could not remain calm.

Repressing the anger within him, Naruto smiled and said kindly, "I have no wish to bring you sadness, Haruno Sakura. I apologize for reminding you of such a traumatic event. If you could forgive me—"

"There's no need," she exclaimed suddenly. She tried to smile, but the fake happiness on her face only seemed to deepen the dullness of her eyes. "It's been four years since then. Plenty of time for me to get over it…or at least enough to treat visitors to our village with the respect they deserve. I should be the one asking for your forgiveness."

Naruto shrugged and then gave her a slight bow, replying, "Then we have reached an impasse and will both have to settle for forgiving each other at the same time. Is that to your liking, Sakura-hime?"

He glanced up at her and winked, softening the startled expression on her face into one of merriment.

Reciprocating his bow with a mock curtsy, Sakura replied, "I believe I can accept such an agreement, but only if you promise me one thing."

He raised his eyebrows skeptically. She gave him a jokingly stern look in response until he was finally forced to reply, "Fine. I promise that I will…?"

"Make it to the Finals of the Chuunin Exams."

"Make it to the Fin—what?"

Sakura grinned, "Yep. You must make it to the Finals or I won't forgive you."

"Did the part about us—for lack of a better phrase—sucking horribly fly over your head or somethin'?"

Her grin only widened, giving her eyes their natural shining light, "Nope. I heard every word and it's for that reason that I want you to try to make it to the Finals. Wouldn't it be incredible if the lowly shinobi from Ame made it all the way to the elite level? Come on, it couldn't hurt!"

Naruto stood up from his bow and looked at her. That part of her hadn't changed...yet it only worsened the raging pain in his chest. Seeing that which he could never have again created a torrent of fury within his mind. Yet he did not show it. He hadn't been prepared for Sakura and Sasuke's presence and had messed up as a result. Now, his mask was set.

Sighing in exasperation, he nodded and replied, "Sure. I promise to make it all the way to the Chuunin Exam Finals. Happy now?"

"Very. Good luck in the tournament Jinkou and I can't wait to see you in the Finals."

She walked past him and gave him a parting wave. Naruto returned it and watched her leave until she was past his line of sight.

Sighing for real, Naruto rubbed his eyes with his hands and muttered a curse. This was going to be a little more difficult than he'd first thought.

_AHHH_, he screamed mentally._ All these pent-up emotions! What the hell is with them?_

He sighed again and stared down at a pebble by its feet. It captured his attention for a few moments before he picked it up, pocketed it, and set off towards the delightful comforts of Hotel Hospitality.

_I'll need sleep_, he told himself wisely._ With the Exams tomorrow, I have to be in top form in order to stay under the radar and still be able to keep an eye on Gaara. Pain and Konan need him for their dream. Nothing will stop me from capturing him. Not even Sasuke and Sakura…_

Naruto turned down an alley and suddenly found himself standing before the entrance to the park where he'd first met Sakura.

_Oh hell…_

_

* * *

_

**A/N****: **So ends Chapter 7. Hopefully all of you liked it. I'm not sure about how accurate my portrayal of Hinata was, but I figured since Naruto didn't have as a great an impact on her as he did in canon, she'd be a little darker. I hoped you liked Gouzen and Tadashii. I'm guessing you noticed their similarities to a certain hyperactive ninja. This was intentional and I hope it has the effect I want it to. At the risk of sounding like a pretentious ass, I can only say that all will be explained within the next few chapters.

Until then, keep reading and reviewing (doubly so on the reviewing; I emphatically encourage you to review as it makes my writing better and your reading experience more enjoyable),

Oramo


	8. Taikai no Shisome

**A/N****: **Sorry for the long wait. Chapter 8's finally up and I think it will address some of the concerns many of you had. Biggest example: Naruto possibly being weaker than Sakura. Naruto merely did that as part of his routine to keep himself from becoming arrogant. I forgot to add that into the final draft and I sincerely apologize for even putting the line in. I've gone back and edited it out as a result. I also redid some of Naruto's conversation with Sakura, mainly because it didn't feel realistic. It doesn't affect the story that much, but you're welcome to check it out if you'd like.

The pace of the story is going to speed up a lot, though this won't become evident until the middle of the Second Part of the Exams, which will be covered in this chapter. After that, there will be a series of shorter chapters that will cover some of the fights during the Preliminaries and then the big lead up to the Finals. What I'd like you to remember is that Naruto and his team desire to keep a low profile. They can't afford to draw attention to themselves by coming out as one of the top competitors in the Exam.

Also, there were some questions about the two Japanese sayings Naruto and Gouzen used and the bunshin Anko told Gouzen they were going to utilize. Again, I forgot to add explanations at the end of the chapter. I posted it at 3:30 in the morning after a week of very stressful midterms.

"Hitodama Bunshin" are clones made of physical material that don't dispel upon severe contact. This is because they are inhabited by _hitodama_, or disembodied spirits. The hitodama that inhabit these clones are low-level summons whose chakra is too low to form a body. As a result, they can be summoned into an object, which, in this case, is a bunshin. They are ideal for missions where a long-term replacement is needed. The drawback is, as always, the chakra drain and the possibility of the clone falling apart. Nevertheless, they are a valuable tool in Naruto's arsenal.

The two sayings, "_Shissurunakare goshujin shimei_" and "_Shissurunakare goshujin kenshiki_", mean "Do not forget your name" and "Do not forget your pride", respectively. The first was created by Pain to ensure that Ame shinobi did not become conceited. It essentially serves to remind them that they're human, or that they have a name which signifies them as mortal and fallible. The phrase carries a double meaning when Naruto says it to Gouzen because Gouzen's name literally means "pride", reminding Gouzen that he must not give in to his pride and reveal too much about Pain's motives.

Gouzen's saying was also created by Pain as a way to remind Ame shinobi that they could not lose their sense of self—their "pride"—while performing their duties. Hopefully that helps explains things a little. I made them up on a whim…be kind.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 8 of _Naze?_, titled "Taikai no Shisome".

Taikai no Shisome

The soft trill of a bird woke Naruto from his reverie. He removed his hands from the stone balcony and stretched them behind his back, glorying in the wonderful sensation it brought him.

It was a brisk morning in Konoha and probably the closest the temperate weather of the Fire Country would get to the freezing rains of Ame. Naruto loved cold weather. The feeling of the moist air shooting icy needles through the pores of his skin made him feel alive and fresh. Perfect for helping him forget his nightmare about Sakura and Sasuke. The image of them leaving him bleeding on the ground as they faded into terrifying darkness was enough to still his heart.

He sighed in weariness as he brought his arms back down to his side. Searching for something to take his mind off the nasty business, Naruto took a last sweeping glance of Konoha. He couldn't deny the joy he'd felt when he'd learned that the sprawling city before him was merely a shield for the real Konoha that had sheltered him as a child. Seeing the stonework in the morning, however, was undeniably awe-inspiring. The light of the sun danced through a sparse fog that was slowly dissipating as it passed through the city, giving the buildings an ethereal, heavenly look that took Naruto's breath away. Adding to that was the constant motion of people through the streets, all of them looking as if their task was the most important in the world.

_How wonderful it would be_, he thought with a smile, _if the most important quest in the world had nothing to do with battle or becoming stronger…or even saving the world. What if there was no "final battle" at all? A world without need for a savior or a hero to save them from some wicked deed. Considering all of the books written about messiahs and champions, it seems humanity _wants _to have one. Or each of us wants to be that savior and become the hero of heroes that is remembered for all of time. Is this individuality what gave us our "superior intelligence" in comparison to other animals? Or did our individuality stem from this intelligence? What intriguing ideas._

"**SHUT THAT DAMN WINDOW!**"

Naruto smirked and replied in a sickly sweet voice, "Yes Anko dear."

A rather blunt object soon sailed towards his head, promising a great deal of pain to him if it struck his cranium. Naruto turned around easily and plucked it out of the air before it could touch him. Examining it, he realized with a slight start that it was the sheath to his tanto, implying that Anko currently held his tanto. And his tanto was sharp.

Grinning, he obliged his sleepy (and quite murderous) teammate's wishes and went back inside, shutting the window leading to the balcony as he did so. He drew the curtains and immersed the room in darkness, earning a thankful sigh from Anko.

Naruto was quite thankful that they'd discovered last night that the large windows in their room led to a balcony. He'd needed something to take his mind off the encounter with his old teammates. Seeing the park where he'd first met Sakura had not been what he'd had in mind. Being outside in the early morning air helped him think better and considering the trials which they were about to undertake, he would need all of his mental faculties to claim their prize…especially with those damnable seals on their arms.

He glared at the inky black tendrils wrapped around his forearm. While thankful he could use his Soyokaze, Naruto knew he'd need chakra to kill Gaara's teammates and capture the crazed boy. It was a rather blatant problem in the series of conundrums Naruto found himself in, yet he could see no immediate solution. There was another worry that plagued his mind as he considered the trials that faced them. What if the seal did other things he wasn't aware of?

This was the first Chuunin Exam held since the Fourth War. Unfortunately, three years of peace was a paltry amount of time for formerly warring shinobi villages to even consider trusting one another again and Naruto wouldn't have been surprised if the seal carried some harmful failsafe in case there was an outbreak of violence. In fact, it would have shocked him if it didn't.

_We'll just have to see where this goes_, Naruto thought resignedly, pushing the troubling notions from his mind.

His eyes allowed him to use the _issui _to guide him across the room and into their bathroom without any hindrance. Naruto flicked on the light and shut the door behind him to keep the rays from waking Anko. Turning to the mirror, he swept his gaze across his reflection, contorting his face in every manner possible as he gave in to a whimsical and childish fascination with the different expressions of his face.

Naruto stopped abruptly and began to examine his countenance. It had been a long time since he'd gotten a good look at his reflection. Slender fingers traced the smooth skin of his cheekbone and upper lip in a half-hearted effort to uncover any stray hairs. Disappointed yet again, Naruto set about dousing his face with icy water and then dried it with an old towel he'd brought on the trip.

Moaning in contentment as he slowly rubbed away any fleeing droplets of water, Naruto arched his neck back, closed his eyes, and let his mind wander. Thoughts and thoughts of thoughts flitted back and forth across his mind with the frivolity and fluidity of the very swirls that danced around him, until the task at hand—his all-important quest for world salvation—blatantly made its existence known. Instantly, the pressure of his duties formed an uncomfortable weight in his head, driving away the pleasure of allowing himself to wander amidst his mind.

_So much work to do_, he thought tiredly, _and so many people in the way._

His head slowly drifted back down, until his eyes were forced to gaze upon his reflection once more. Red orbs, framed majestically by silver hair and a face made pale by nearly half a decade of training under stormy skies, glowed back ominously. The towel lay limply in front of him on his hands. His small arms and body were no bigger or smaller than they ought to be, but they were certainly not intimidating. Of course, he didn't really need them anyway.

A sharp kunai, tucked within the folds of his hakama, met his flesh as his hand lovingly wrapped around it and brought it out into the air.

Holding it up in front of him and examining it with a warm look in his eyes, Naruto allowed a small smirk to adorn his face.

_I wonder what I'll do with this today…_

* * *

Pain eyed the charts unblinkingly. After another moment, he made a dismissive motion with his hand and waited as a servant whisked the scrolls away. More scrolls were brought before him by his secretary instantly and he began examining them with the same calculating and calm eyes that had guided him through the last pile.

The duties of ruling Amegakure might have made any other person jaded and cynical, their mind forfeit of any ideals or dreams to drive them towards the future; but this was not so with Pain. The tragedy of his past—the _pain_ that tore at his insides in search of closure—drove him on endlessly. Nothing would stop him from giving peace to the world…even if it only lasted for a short time.

There was no time for rest or leisure. All of his being was focused completely on his goal. Each day was filled with tasks whose sole purpose was the furtherance of his dream. Naruto was yet another of those tasks.

Pain had carefully considered how he could use Naruto to his greatest potential. The boy was gifted even without his eyes. With them and the secret ability they held, Naruto could make Pain's dream a reality. Better still, Naruto _wanted _that dream to be reality.

This similarity in purpose—a predictable result of the boy losing his original meaning—had been perfect, for it allowed Pain to share some common ground with him and it eased the process of Naruto accepting the idea of working for Pain's dream.

For the first few months, he'd tested Naruto's skills under the guise of training. He had been disappointed to find him lacking in so many areas. They had obviously been enough to get him through the war, but, given what Pain had known of Konoha's new attitude towards using genin during wartime, that hadn't been saying much.

For the first time in a very long time, Pain had become impatient. He had desperately wanted some result out of the boy who could have been the only key to his dream. If the Kyuubi had been lost…

Pain had taken a very dangerous risk as a result and he was very much aware of what could have happened if it had failed.

From the considerable knowledge he had of doujutsu, Pain had surmised that Naruto's eyes would activate when under extreme duress. He had been correct. The normal training regimen had consisted of Pain launching kunai and shuriken at Naruto, but deflecting them at the last second to avoid seriously hurting him. The boy might have gotten cut, but his life had never been in danger.

That had not been the case for this session. After sending waves of kunai and shuriken at Naruto in the normal manner, Pain had begun aiming to kill. In a matter of moments, Naruto, once joking about Pain's method of training, had fallen to the ground after stumbling upon a branch.

Realizing the consequences of his decision and hoping against hope that he would succeed, Pain sent another wave of blades at Naruto with the intent to kill. Just as he and Konan prepared a jutsu to save him, the boy had suddenly become a blur…and had passed through the kunai like they were nothing.

Fascinated, Pain had launched more kunai at Naruto, his Rin'negan eagerly following the boy's movement. By the time Naruto had passed out in Konan's arms, Pain was certain that hope was not lost. This had only been validated by Naruto description of the "link" to the Kyuubi.

Soon afterwards, Pain had felt confident enough to allow Naruto to go on his first mission. When Naruto successfully completed it, Pain had begun sending him on more missions to help him get used to Pain's style of leadership.

After Naruto assassinated his first target, Pain had ordered Konan to withdraw all contact from him, including the secret gifts she'd been sending to him when he was struggling. He had wanted Naruto to be able to deal with the guilt of murder by himself, hopefully becoming stronger in the process.

Pain allowed a slight a grimace to mar the body's face. That was a decision he had sincerely regretted.

Naruto was different than himself. Whereas Pain could function without others, Naruto had a desperate need for human contact and acknowledgement. Seven months of virtual isolation from both him and Konan—two of the only people he truly cared about anymore—had been too much for his already fragile mind and reports of his "practices" filled his desk every time Naruto's team came back from a mission.

Pain had suspected the cause of Naruto's strange behavior, but had no idea how to rectify it. For four months, Naruto had only had missions, training, and studying to occupy his days. Even though Pain had finally had time to examine Naruto's situation and understand why he was behaving so oddly, he hadn't known what he could do to place himself and Konan back into Naruto's life. If Naruto had become anything like the Suna Jinchuriki that their reports described, he could have been detrimental to Pain and Konan's dream.

Pain had wondered endlessly about the problem: Did Naruto hate him? Could Pain ever talk with Naruto again with the same level of cordiality and understanding as they had used so long ago?

Then, Sasori had reported that one of his "subordinates" had learned of some activity in Rice Country that showed signs of Orochimaru's handiwork.

Leaving the matter of Naruto's mental health for another time, Pain had sent a team of scouts into the lush nation to capture and interrogate a wealthy merchant who Sasori's agent had seen dealing with one of Orochimaru's suspected men. Fearing that further isolation would only deepen the aperture that was pushing Naruto away from them, Pain had sent the boy along with the scouts. It had been Naruto's longest mission to date. Pain had hoped that several weeks with fellow soldiers would form some kind of temporary bond that would tie Naruto to Akatsuki in place of Konan and himself.

What came back was…surprising.

Mitarashi Anko was a girl whom Pain remembered had tagged along with Orochimaru when the Snake Sennin had asked to join Akatsuki. She had been four at the time and had been as boisterous as she was now. When Orochimaru had defected from Akatsuki two years later, Anko had disappeared with him.

Seeing her draped on Naruto's back in an unconscious state had been an unexpected jolt, especially when his eyes had locked on to the Curse Mark on her shoulder. Akatsuki agents had come across several individuals who had been endowed with Orochimaru's insidious bite. There had been nothing human left about them when Pain had their bodies brought back to be examined.

As a result, he had been perfectly ready to kill Anko…until Naruto had demanded she be given a room and a bed to sleep in. The steady and determined look that had been in Naruto's eyes, though tempered by confusion, had been far too familiar to Yahiko's for Pain to ignore. If Pain had known how powerful an effect she would on Naruto, he would have been much less reluctant to agree with his young charge.

When Naruto had asked to let her train with him three days later, however, Pain had been forced to object. Anko had the Curse Mark and could have become one of those creatures they'd found. He had not doubted Naruto's abilities to defend himself, but the boy would have stood no chance against a creature that had such a high level of chakra residue in death, let alone the power it could have possibly wielded in life.

Naruto would not be denied, however, and Pain had soon found himself agreeing to Naruto's proposal, on the condition that a battalion of shinobi be on hand in case of treachery on Anko's part. Naruto had felt this to be unnecessary, but Pain could not have afforded to leave anything to chance. Though he acknowledged at the time that his plans would have gone much easier if the divide between them had been healed, Pain had also known that a hateful and bitter Naruto was better than no Naruto at all. If Anko had posed any kind of a threat to Naruto's life, Pain would have killed her without hesitation. The energy in Naruto's actions towards this girl, however, had amazed Pain and he had been intrigued to see what the two of them would do together.

What had ended up happening was Anko beating the hell out of Naruto as the Curse Mark had crept its way across her body like the reptile its creator so thoroughly adored.

Pain had appeared behind Anko in an instant to kill her, but Naruto's eyes had suddenly changed. The pupils had become elongated in a fashion similar to the Kyuubi's and the irises had turned an even darker crimson. Just as Anko's Curse Mark-enhanced fist had been careening towards Naruto, the Mark had abruptly sped back across her body and into its original position.

Though stunned at this development, Pain had nevertheless halted the momentum of Anko's fist by pressing his finger into her Curse Mark and using an incredibly slight _Shinra Tensei_* on her muscles. Seeing the gratitude on Naruto's face that he hadn't immediately killed the girl, Pain had held off from following his instincts and snapping Anko's neck.

It had been a wise decision, for Anko had and still continued to inspire Naruto to reach greater and greater heights. He'd had her monitored for a long time as she trained with Naruto, of course, but nothing in her actions had suggested that she wished ill will upon her friend and Pain had soon felt secure enough to only have two or three shinobi watching their sessions. Never, though, would he leave their spars and practices completely unobserved. Even if Anko was as trustworthy to Naruto as Konan was to him, Naruto was too important to leave unprotected. If there was one thing he learned from Hanzou, it was that caution was the best route to progress.

How Pain had actually initiated Anko's enlistment into his forces was far less complicated than he had first anticipated, though it was not without its entanglements. When Pain had told Anko that he was going to train her, he didn't actually mean that he himself would train her. He didn't even train Naruto. Instead, he selected one of their newest members to provide them with their tutelage. The member in question wasn't pleased with the duty and given what Naruto had heard of the member from others, the boy reacted in kind. Still, both eventually came to accept it after having a meeting with Pain and had had no major disputes worthy of remembrance since.

For nearly three-and-a-half years, Naruto and Anko trained under the Akatsuki member, whose instruction Pain specifically limited to a refinement of the two young shinobi's basic skills, such as stealth and infiltration. That was not to say that Pain would leave the key to his dreams without any training in the finer arts of being a ninja.

Both Naruto and Anko were forced to spend time studying in his gargantuan library about different jutsu and their applications. Their attitudes towards this differed remarkably: Naruto enjoyed burying himself in the ancient tomes, whilst Anko became restless and bored enough to start using the valuable documents as projectiles that were usually aimed at her scholarly companion. Nevertheless, both showed remarkable signs of progress, despite the lingering signs of Naruto's "habit".

Pain's intent had been to force them to explore the vast expanse of options that hundreds of years of research had made available to them and then create their own unique style out of that knowledge. Of course, the Akatsuki member who tutored them had watched over and aided their studies and practice whenever they struggled; but for the most part, Naruto and Anko had been left on their own.

There was another reason Pain limited contact between Akatsuki member and his two wards. Pain did not want either Naruto or Anko to become like their tutor. While necessary to his cause, all of his preaching about improving the shinobi way of life would be for naught if the two children were turned into mindless weapons. He wanted them to develop a bond with each other to protect them from the dehumanizing effects of battle. As a result, all of the tasks they were assigned they completed together.

The increasingly dangerous missions Pain had begun to send them on, while not pitting them against elite Jounin, provided enough of a challenge that both of the aspiring ninja had to be in top form in order to complete them effectively and quickly. They needed each other to provide an incentive to become stronger; yet they also had to have someone who could understand them and if both shared the same struggles as the other, they could develop the bond Pain so intensely wanted them to have.

His pen twirled his signature—an alias that conveniently propagated the rumor of his divinity whilst hiding his real name from the masses—onto the final scroll and he placed it onto the pile. A servant came in, collected the scrolls, and departed without a word.

When he called for the secretary to bring him the next batch of scrolls—orders to secure a last remnant of Hanzou's forces if he remembered correctly—he was greeted by Konan, her beautiful face perfectly composed as she set the documents onto the desk.

Seeing her inevitably brought his thoughts back to Naruto…and the mission he'd sent him, Anko, and some unfortunate Genin on. It was without a doubt the most dangerous he'd assigned to Naruto, but his instincts told him that the boy needed this. While it was very useful in it allowing Naruto to study another person in a similar "condition" to his own, the main reason Pain felt Naruto had to enter the Chuunin Exams was to find closure. The Suna Jinchuriki could always be captured at another time and with the strained relationships of the participants in the Exam, Pain had little doubt Naruto would be able to absolve Ame of any blame if they failed and caused a scandal. It was the conflicting feelings within the boy about his past loyalties that Pain wanted the trip to Konoha to force Naruto to deal and Pain felt that confronting those doubts directly would finally put Naruto's mind at ease. Or at least he hoped it would.

_What if it only increases his doubt_, Pain queried worrying as he turned his attention to the new pile of scrolls. _If Naruto loses faith in us and his purpose, he could return to Konoha. How can I be sure he will stay the course?_

Pain noticed Konan staring at him with a look of concern on her face. Realizing he'd seen her scrutiny, Konan asked him, "Is something bothering you, Nagato?"

"Yes," he replied, "I am worried about Naruto."

Konan's eyes became somber in an instant and she looked away from him. Pain knew how deeply Konan cared for the boy. The bond they had formed as she had desperately tried to keep him alive while whisking him to safety, as well as how much he had resembled Yahiko as a child, endeared him greatly to her.

Her relationship with Naruto had been restored once Pain had allowed her to interact with him again. The reason he hadn't earlier was because he was afraid Naruto would think them to be puppet-masters, only using him for their gains. With the friendship Anko brought to Naruto, allowed Pain to feel safe in letting Konan to converse with him again. Apparently, their first conversation had been slightly heated (all of the anger on Naruto's side, of course), but they had reconciled and their trust in each other had reached a point where Konan had demanded Naruto see her before he left for the Exam. Based on what Pain knew of Konan, she had no doubt given him a stern lecture about every possible danger that could be thrown at him and how he could defend against it. He had a feeling she'd suggested Naruto flee straight back to Ame if things got out of hand…"out of hand" meaning whenever someone glared at Naruto too intently.

Pain looked up from his work and glanced at Konan once more. She was standing by the window of his office staring down onto the streets of Amegakure, figure as resolute and protecting as the title the villagers had bestowed upon her.

"_Lady Angel"_, he mused thoughtfully. _How pleasantly appropriate. _A new and far more interesting thought struck him suddenly as he continued to gaze upon his beloved teammate, _I once thought that Naruto was different than myself…that I could function alone while he could not. Perhaps Naruto and I are more alike than I had once surmised…_

"Do you need something, Nagato?"

Pain stared at her for another moment before waving his hand dismissively, "I am fine. You have a mission in Yugakure. There is a shinobi residing there whose abilities would be a welcome addition to our forces."

"Of course, Nagato," Konan replied without hesitation.

She walked over to Pain's desk, carefully retrieved the mission brief he held in his outstretched hand, read through it, and then immediately left the room.

Pain watched her walk away until she had disappeared from his sight and then returned to the scrolls.

* * *

"Out of the way ya grey-haired midget," a Kumo nin growled as he roughly pushed Naruto to the side.

Naruto stared after the tall ninja for a moment with a curious expression on his face, but quickly turned way and resumed his progress into the endless expanse of Chuunin Exam participants.

They were currently trying to pass through a mass of shinobi to get into the building leading to the first portion of the Exam. Thousands of anxious ninja and excited spectators equated to an ungodly amount of noise. Not even the slowly warming atmosphere of the morning (or the fact that it was the _morning_) seemed to be able to dampen the raucous currently surrounding Naruto. The only semblance of order that he could detect were the barriers on the streets that separated the public from the slowly moving organism that was the crowd of shinobi.

_Just concentrate on where you're going_, he thought to himself, picturing the image of the three gigantic buildings which the road led to. In Naruto's mind, the only things that distinguished them from the myriad other structures of Konoha were their size and the fact that the First Test would be held there.

"_How can you put up with that_," Gouzen suddenly hissed at him, his voice amazingly audible amidst the deafening noise surrounding them. He grabbed onto Naruto's shoulder and bent his brutish face down to the blonde's ear, "You're makin' us look like pussies!"

Naruto lazily cocked an eyebrow and asked confusedly, "What do you mean?"

"I _mean_," Gouzen bellowed, his voice a sharp cry from the whisper it had been, "why the hell d'ya let that asshole knock you outta the way like that?"

A slight frown marred Naruto's face when he noticed the stares Gouzen's yelling was drawing from the people in the immediate vicinity. Knocking his teammate's hand away as if it were an annoying insect, Naruto shrugged and continued walking. He barely heard Gouzen swear loudly in frustration over the crowd, yet Naruto could distinctly hear several words that sounded oddly like "coward" and "bitch of a leader".

Smirking, Naruto glanced behind him and spotted Anko a foot to his left. She was staring at each and every competitor who passed her way with an eerily calm look on her face.

_A snake eyeing mice_, he thought jokingly.

Anko apparently noticed him staring, because she turned his way and gave him an alluring wink.

Sticking his tongue out at her playfully, Naruto returned his focus to moving forward. He soon realized, however, that the vast majority of the people in front of him were at least a head taller than him, making any idea of where he was supposed to go impossible to ascertain.

…_Damn._

* * *

The stairwell of the Shikangakkou Sonahaji za Shoshin*, more commonly known as a part of the "Shoshin" by the public, was as long and winding as any Naruto had read about. The incessant noise of the crowd outside became muffled almost soon as one entered the structure and continued to become dimmer as they ascended up to their assigned room.

"We're looking for the third floor," Naruto told his teammates, glancing behind him to make sure they heard him.

"Hai, Jinkoumaru-teichou!" Gouzen shouted back respectfully.

Naruto nearly tripped and smashed his face into the stone steps.

"Did you just call me 'teichou'?" Naruto asked with barely restrained glee.

Gouzen, to Naruto's immense surprise, didn't yell back. Instead, his face remained rigid and stern, while he replied in a calm voice that only Naruto and Anko could hear, "This is one of the most important missions I've ever been on. Our Lord said you're the commander, so I have to respect that. But," he glared at Naruto dangerously, "if you let people walk all over your ass like earlier…"

Naruto couldn't keep the grin off of his face as he replied, "Sure thing Gouzen my man*. You just keep that attitude up through the whole thing and we'll be good. But," Naruto mirrored Gouzen's glare, "if you start acting like yourself—you know, like a mindless jackass—"

Gouzen's dignified mask shattered immediately, "_TEME!_ I'll—"

"Shut it dumbass," Anko interrupted in annoyed voice, slapping Gouzen hard on the backside of the head. "People are startin' to stare."

The two ceased their bickering immediately upon seeing the perturbed scowls they were receiving from their fellow participants and hurriedly resumed their march.

It didn't take long for them to reach the door marked "_San_", but when they did, Naruto noticed a very faint anomaly in the patterns of the _issui _surrounding the number on the entranceway. Narrowing his eyes, he scratched his right cheek with his index finger and waited as Gouzen abruptly stepped ahead of them and lead the way into the corridor.

The only hindrance that barred their way through the hallway to their room, however, was the restless mass of shinobi slowly filing in to their own assigned rooms. As a result, it took them several long minutes to get to where they needed to go and by that time, Naruto was perfectly prepared to strangle, maim, and/or burn to hell whoever had thought of bunching hundreds of sweaty genin into a relatively building.

_Idiots_, he thought as he wrinkled his nose at the particularly potent odor of some random genin, _how could this possibly be a good idea?_

His thoughts were rudely interrupted when his eyes recognized several very familiar _issui_ patterns.

_You've got to be kidding me…_

Sure enough, Sakura and Sasuke were both standing in front of the exact same room as the one Naruto was assigned to. Both looked eager, though in varying degrees given how different their individual emotional output was from each other.

"Oh, that's a plus," Anko whispered behind him.

Naruto only had to sweep his eyes over the crowd once to realize what she was referring to. Gaara and his two teammates stood apathetically at the back of the crowd, ignoring any and all of the genin who happened to stand close to them.

_Odd_, he remarked to himself._ I'd have figured them to be the type to examine their future competition beforehand. From the careless whirls of their _issui_, I'd say they don't deem any of these guys to be a threat. 'Cept for Sasuke, of course._

Naruto frowned upon noticing the frenetic _issui _of Gaara reaching out longingly for Sasuke. The hungry look in the Suna Jinchuriki's eye caused Naruto's scowl to deepen. If Gaara wanted to kill the Uchiha as bad as he appeared to, then he would no doubt seek Sasuke out at some point during the Exam. If that happened, Naruto could effectively rule out any possibility of capturing Gaara during the more chaotic portions of the Tests, unless he wanted to risk his old teammates seeing what his true mission really was.

While he had no idea what the actual Tests would be, Naruto was fairly certain that all of the participants would be pitted against each other in an isolated area at some point. At least, the textbook he'd read on past Chuunin Exams seemed to indicate that that had been the common practice before the war started. Hopefully, this Exam remained true to that tradition.

"Hey! Jinkou!"

Naruto waited for Anko to poke him in the back before giving any sign that he'd heard his alias name being called.

"Wha—oh! Hi Sakura!"

He waved merrily at her as he plastered a pleasant grin onto his face.

Sakura rolled her eyes playfully at his apparent absentmindedness as she walked over to him. In a voice full of mirth, she mocked, "You're not going to make it to the Finals with reactions like that!"

"Whoa whoa whoa! I'm just a little flustered is all."

"Sure you are," she replied sarcastically, laughter in her voice.

There was an odd moment of silence before Sakura asked politely, "And your teammates are…?"

"Ah! Sorry about that. This," he motioned behind him, "is the lovely Mitarashi Anko and the strapping young lad to my left here is Tsuppari Gouzen. Team Hinoiri*," he made a slight bow, "at your service Haruno Sakura."

As Sakura giggled at his antics, Naruto glanced at Anko out of the corner of his eye. At the mention of Sakura's name, there had been a small, murderous fluctuation in Anko's _issui_. Luckily, Anko seemed to be in much better control of her emotions than Naruto had when he'd first encountered his old teammates, for she gave no sign at all that she bore ill will towards the girl in front of her.

"It's nice to meet the both of you," Sakura replied with a bow of her own. "My teammates are—it'd be better if they introduced themselves. Wait here while I go get them."

Naruto felt his stomach reverse in on itself.

_Teammate__**s**__…as in more than one? _

It took everything Naruto had to keep his face amicable when Sakura brought over Sasuke and some other boy he'd never seen before. The boy in question was just a tad taller than Sasuke and slightly bulkier as well. The lean, black clothing he wore, as well as the two wakizashi's strapped to his back, suggested that he fought close range. An intelligent decision considering the respective strengths of Sakura and Sasuke.

_When I was with them_, Naruto thought analytically,_ Sakura always fought at range, using supporting ninjutsu to distract enemies while Sasuke and I got up close. Of course, Sasuke could always have joined Sakura's ranged attack with his Katon jutsu to get the targets in a tough spot. That doesn't look to have changed. This _boy _probably specializes in taijutsu, or at least a mix of taijutsu and close-range ninjutsu. During the last few months of the war, Sakura, Sasuke, and I were one hell of a team. If I had been the Sandaime after…after I 'died', then I would have looked for someone whose specialties complimented the old formula. _

Neither of the two boys seemed inclined to talk, though it was apparently for very different reasons. While Sasuke merely seemed not to care, the boy glared venomously at Naruto…and his Ame hitai-ate.

Naruto filed this piece of information in the back of his brain for another time.

After several uncomfortable seconds of silence, Sakura exasperatedly demanded, "Introduce yourselves!"

When Sasuke turned his back to them and walked away, Sakura slapped her against her forehead in frustration and yelled, "At least you go Tadashii!"

Tadashii started and glanced at Sakura fearfully. Seeing the pain he was very close to being in, Tadashii sighed and said in an even voice, "My name's Rokujou Tadashii." He stared intently into Naruto's face and then flashed him a feral grin. "You must be the Jinkou guy who 'saved' Sakura from that creepy Suna nin. Tell me, are all the ninja of Ame so chivalrous as you, or do they actually _try _to save people instead of hiding behind a fence?"

The grin on Tadashii's face was now much closer to a sneer and the hostility in his voice was evident to all present.

Naruto let out a nervous, bashful laugh as he responded, "W-well I…um, maybe it wasn't one of my nobler moments."

To Naruto's immense satisfaction, Sakura sent a wicked glare at her teammate that promised much pain and suffering before turning back to Naruto and apologizing, "Sorry about that. Apparently, my teammate doesn't know anything about _manners_."

Naruto waved his hand dismissively, "Ah it's fine. Can't expect everyone to have the same degree of cordiality and…maturity as you do Sakura."

"_What _did you—"

"Are you guys taking the first part here too," Sakura hurriedly interrupted, reaching around and smacking Tadashii into the ground as she smiled.

Seeing the surprised looks Anko and Gouzen were giving the incapacitated Tadashii, Naruto quickly replied, "Yep. We're kinda nervous about it, but I'm pretty sure we can get through the first part. It couldn't be that bad, you know?"

Sakura, ignoring the sporadic twitches of her teammate, crossed her arms over her chest and scowled, "I hope so. I've heard people have been ki—"

"Get the hell back losers!"

"Yeah! Bunch of worthless maggots like you could never make Chuunin!"

Most of the genin in the room visibly jumped at the sudden outburst of noise—surprising them mainly because it had drowned out any other sound— and quickly began searching for its source. It didn't take long for Naruto to see two tall genin standing in front of the door to the classroom. Their physical appearance was fairly generic, but their _issui_ patterns swirled in much the same way as the patterns of the sign on the door leading to this hallway.

"Step aside immediately or I will be forced to remove you," an unknown voice announced suddenly.

Naruto's attention was abruptly drawn to a rather eccentric-looking boy covered in what appeared to be green spandex. Coupled with the insanely bushy eyebrows atop his eyes and Naruto could understand the two genins' response.

"Ha! Who the hell do you think you are? I've taken this Exam three times and just by looking at ya tells me that none of you are ready for what's beyond this door."

Naturally, many of the shinobi in the crowd took serious offense to this and began shouting for the cocky intruders to leave. Between the taunts of the two genin and the indignant outrage of the crowd, the sound level was beginning to become as loud as it had outside.

That all ended when a pale boy dressed in a beige shirt and brown shorts, with wrappings on his legs extending past his knee, and brown hair gracefully falling past his shoulders until it ended in a ponytail at the end of his back, suddenly appeared before the blockade.

"Just because you two lack the talent to become Chuunin," he began in a calm and regal voice, "does not mean that the rest of us share your ineptitude. Move aside and drop the genjutsu so that we may go on to the real testing area."

Several of the genin in the crowd began whispering to themselves furiously as they comprehended this new piece of information, but Naruto merely nodded.

_Makes sense now. Those strange _issui _patterns must have been genjutsu. I did always have trouble detecting the small stuff._

As he expected, the genin blocking the door smiled sheepishly and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, only to be replaced by older Chuunin versions of themselves.

"A kind of preliminary for the First Test," Naruto heard Tadashii ask Sakura, who nodded in response.

One of the Chuunin, the same man who had registered Naruto and his team when they entered Konoha, grinned and proclaimed, "Nice work. The real door is directly above this one on the next floor. Go through it to begin the First Test."

"Why were we the only ones to get a genjutsu," a voice called out indignantly, obviously referring to the scores of other participants who had entered their rooms without hindrance.

The Chuunin smiled and replied, "Who's to say those are the correct rooms?"

"Or if they're rooms at all," the other Chuunin added brightly.

The first Chuunin's smile suddenly turned wicked and he said ominously, "Besides, we figured your particular group could use a bit of a warm-up."

Before anyone could ask exactly what the Chuunin meant by that, the enigmatic duo disappeared in a cloud of smoke. This time, however, nothing remained when their clouds dissipated.

A wary scowl on his face, the boy who had spotted the genjutsu turned away from the door and made his way towards the stairwell. The spandex kid and a girl with her hair in two buns followed close behind.

There was an uneasy pause as the genin debated whether or not to follow the boy, but the crowd soon began to march after him. This trek was slowed by the reluctance of the majority of the crowd, mainly because they apparently needed to "warm up" for whatever place they were going to.

"Who was that boy?" Naruto asked in genuine curiosity as he walked beside Sakura. Anko and Gouzen were directly behind him, with Tadashii and Sasuke walking on Sakura's far right.

Sakura eased passed a pair of Taki genin and then replied, "Hyuuga Neji."

"The Byakugan?"

"Yeah. He's one of the strongest genin competing in the Exams, so I'd stay clear of him if I were you."

Naruto nodded silently and continued to walk beside his former teammate as they stepped onto the stairs and ambled their way up towards their room. The stairway itself was incredibly dark. The only light that was available to guide the genin was that from the door to the next hallway. Whatever was inside it, however, was invisible because of the brightness of the light.

When they finally stepped through the room, they were greeted by the sight of an ordinary classroom.

"That's odd," Naruto remarked wryly, drawing a chuckle from Anko.

"I thought we were supposed to be in a hallway," someone whined beside them. Murmurs of concurrence rippled through the crowd. Soon, the confused the genin began cautiously examining the room for any exits. Finding none, they resigned themselves to mingling with their fellow "victims" and wondering about their situation.

Sakura, despite the oddity of their situation, smiled and remarked, "I think I'm going to do well for this part."

"And why is tha—"

"Forehead-girl! Didn't know they let _weaklings _into the Exams now."

A girl with bleach blonde hair tied into a ponytail and clothed in a promiscuous purple suit strutted up to Sakura, her lips elegantly formed into a sneer.

Sakura quickly retorted, "Your one to talk, ya walking neon sign!"

_Interesting insult_, Naruto thought in mock seriousness, _but lacking a certain zing. _

"The only thing I'm insulted about Sakura," Ino snapped back, "is how lightly you're taking our relationship. I mean, how am I supposed to act if you're trying to burn me with lame shit like that?"

Cracking her fingers dangerously, Sakura quietly replied, "Perhaps we should move on to the next stage of our 'relationsh'—"

"Ooh, who's the cutie you're with," Ino suddenly interrupted, noticeably appraising Naruto with her eyes as a grin crossed her face.

"Y-you talkin' about me," Naruto stuttered in surprise. The last time he'd seen Yamanaka Ino, she'd been one of Sasuke's biggest fangirls. The interaction between her and Naruto had been limited to the most basic of social conversations: slap to the face if he was in the way, punch to the gut if he made fun of her obsession, and a knee to his lucky charms if he insulted Sasuke directly.

Things had apparently changed, because Ino giggled and replied, "Of course! It's not every day that I get to meet a guy who has the decency to save women from the plight of insane Suna shinobi!"

Naruto face faulted as he muttered beneath his neck cover, "I should have known."

"Leave him alone Ino," Sakura reprimanded, though Naruto could very clearly hear the laughter in her voice.

The blonde girl grinned and replied, "Sorry, I couldn't resist. When I heard about it, I nearly died laughing, so I couldn't resist seeing the 'hero' of the story. By the way, my name's Yamanaka Ino. And you're…?"

"Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru," he replied evenly, noticing Ino's blue eyes travelling up and down his body.

Anko abruptly wrapped her arm around Naruto's shoulders, crushed him against her body, and flamboyantly exclaimed, "And I'm Mitarashi Anko!"

Before Ino could do anything more than blink in surprise, Anko leered at her with a feral glint in her eye and asked in a sultry voice, "Like what you see?"

Without missing a beat, Ino retorted, "I _did_, but then something _unsavory_ showed up and ruined the view. That's too bad though…I was _really_ enjoying it."

She glanced at Naruto and winked, prompting his eyes to widen. Anko's grip subsequently tightened around the wiry muscles of his arm as her eyes narrowed dangerously and the grin disappeared off her face.

Before Naruto could wonder about Anko's strange behavior, a tired voice called out, "That's enough Ino."

It drew the girls' attention away from Naruto, allowing him to easily push Anko's arm off of him and escape her grasp. Though only a few inches shorter than her, Naruto had to admit that Anko knew how to use their height difference to its full potential, particularly in regards to the area around her chest—

"Sorry about that," Nara Shikamaru muttered lazily to Naruto as he and Akimichi Chouji walked up to the group. "Ino's kinda annoying sometimes. Deep down, though, she's really even more annoying, so be thankful that you don't have to see—"

"SHIKAMARU!"

"See what I mean," the lazy genius mumbled sadly as Ino began screaming at him.

Naruto grinned, but stopped when he noticed the entirety of Team 8 coming to join them.

_Everyone's…together again_, he thought with a pang of nostalgia. Naruto knew there was no time for that, but he couldn't help but feeling that he was entitled to some degree of emotion as he gazed upon his former comrades.

"Hey, it's Sakura's savior!"

Naruto glowered at the cocky Inuzuka.

"Did you tell _all _of your friends?" he asked Sakura exasperatedly while desperately trying to ignore a howling Kiba.

Sakura blushed and replied, "No. I only told Tadashii in passing and when he heard you were from Ame…"

"Exaggerated certain details, did he?"

Sakura smiled humorlessly, "Perhaps."

Naruto shrugged. If the boy really held such hate for Ame, then it would be all the easier for Naruto to hate him back for replacing him. Personally, he preferred it that way.

As he glanced over the original members of the Rookie Nine, Naruto came across the sight of a silver-haired Konoha genin with glasses on cringing fearfully as three Sound nin pushed him out of the way. He noticed Naruto staring and had the modesty to blush at his reaction…until he looked to Naruto's left and saw Anko.

His eyes widened momentarily, but quickly disappeared underneath the glint of his glasses as he pushed them up his nose. Turned around, he slipped into the crowd and became swallowed up by innumerable _issui_.

Before Naruto could focus on seeing through the golden swirls, the sharp freezing touch of killing intent slammed into him directly to his left. Swiftly turning his attention to its source, Naruto was shocked to see Anko glaring murderously into the crowd where the genin had disappeared.

Anko's killing intent wasn't as powerful as Gaara's, but the rate at which it burst out of her certainly brought back memories of the indiscriminating ferocity of Gaara's issui. Her own _issui _were spinning around in much the same manner as they had around her Curse Mark-enhanced fist all those years ago, though they lacked the overwhelming power that had suffocated him back then. Still, if the intent had been aimed at any of the people around them and not solely focused on the place where Anko apparently thought the genin was, Naruto was certain the unfortunate target would have had a rather unpleasant experience.

Thankful that Anko's stray killing intent wasn't enough to alert anyone else to her rage (possibly due to sheer number of people in the room), Naruto waited for Kiba's loud voice to fully distract the Rookie Nine before he quietly asked his friend, "What's wrong?"

"It's _him_…"

The vicious snarl on her face, the barely restrained rage in her voice, and the hateful emphasis on the word "him" all led Naruto to one hateful conclusion.

He asked her in a whisper, his voice suddenly laced with contempt, "Orochimaru?"

Anko shook her head, yet still kept her gaze locked onto the direction the genin had left in, "No…but this guy's just as bad."

"Who is he?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but a loud noise abruptly erupted near the front of the classroom.

"All right worms. Shut the hell up and sit down!"

Anko was not the only one to stop talking: the entire room fell into a shocked silence as they gazed upon one of the intimidating men imaginable. Naruto glanced back at Gouzen and found him staring bug-eyed at the intruder. In all honesty, Naruto couldn't blame him.

Massive in size, deadly solemn in visage, and cloaked in clothes as black as night, an extremely tall and muscular man stood within everyone's line of sight in a manner that could only be described as overwhelming. He was flanked by two Chuunin on each side who, despite paling in comparison to their apparent leader in terms of sheer physical presence, gave off an aura of total detachment. Just by looking into their cold, blank faces, Naruto could tell they cared not one whit about who graduated. He wouldn't have been surprised if this indifference extended to the beloved prodigies of Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji.

More puffs of smoke erupted around the sides of the room, revealing many more Chuunin who looked as emotionless and blank as their comrades standing near the man.

As if on cue, the man bellowed, "Sit down NOW!"

Everyone jumped a little, apparently having been rocked out of their own thoughts of the man. Nevertheless, they immediately hurried to their seats. Naruto found it slightly humorous to see some of the more aloof genin trying to quickly obey the man's command while still attempting to maintain their "cool" appearance. The only people who didn't appear to be affected at all by this display—whether it was in surprise, fear, or wariness—were Gaara, Sasuke, Shino, Neji, some nameless Kusa kunoichi…and himself.

Naruto blinked, then immediately contorted his face and body language into that of shocked and inexperienced rookie.

He briefly debated whether or not to whimper, but decided on the negative when Sakura looked at him and, with a slight glimmer of concern in her eyes, murmured, "I don't think he's here to hurt us. We're in a classroom, so there'll probably be a written test or something."

Sighing in relief, Naruto nodded his thanks and replied, "That's good. For a moment, I thought we'd have to fight that guy."

Turning to Anko, he tapped her on the shoulder and said reassuringly, "Hear that Anko? We don't need to worry about that man up there. It's probably just a written exam."

Despite being sure that she knew he was merely playing to his image of a weakling, Anko snorted derisively and walked away.

Scowling, Naruto quickly muttered to Sakura, "Sorry about that. She's just a little on edge."

Sakura shrugged and replied kindly, "It's all right. I'd be that way too if I hadn't had experience dealing with guys like that one up there. I'm sure—"

She paused when she caught the glare the man was giving her and then hurriedly muttered to Naruto, "I'll see you later, Jinkou."

Naruto nodded to her politely and watched as she quickly joined her teammates in a seat beside them.

Ignoring the frightening man's gaze for a moment, Naruto quickly began searching for the genin who had attracted Anko's hatred. He caught sight of him and his silver hair within moments near the front of the classroom and noted with disdain that his body image conveyed feelings of anxiety. Naruto had already seen through his cover. Whatever this person's ulterior motive was, Naruto needed to find out what it entailed in case it interfered with his own plans. If that happened to involve certain _entertaining _activities…well, one could only hope after all.

Smiling thinly, Naruto quickly memorized the man's _issui _patterns and headed off to sit next to Anko.

He tapped Gouzen with the back of his left hand as he walked past him and muttered, "Come on. Unlike most predators, that guy up there looks like he'll kill you if you stand still. Or eat you."

The idea of the man before him laying even a finger on him, let alone _eating _him, seemed to be enough to shock Gouzen into hurriedly following Naruto and setting himself down just a seat behind his teammates. Naruto knew Gouzen to be brave, but you had to have seen certain things to be able to brush off the ominous eyes of someone like their proctor.

When all of the participants had taken their seats, the man before them stared out at the entire room coldly before announcing in a hard, authoritative voice, "My name is Ibiki Morino and I will be your proctor for the First Part of the Exam. This portion will be a written test that consists of ten questions that are each worth one point. Your cumulative score cannot be lower than fifteen points. Every member of your team must contribute to your team's score. In other words, if one of you gets a zero, your entire team will be disqualified immediately."

To Naruto's slight surprise, there were only a few gasps that resonated throughout the otherwise silent room.

_Figures_, he thought calmly as he widened his eyes in an expression that approximated anxiety. _Most of these shinobi fought in the war. While they've probably been inactive for three years, that's still not enough time to completely dim the instincts battle gave them. They may have seemed like children when this Ibiki character popped out of nowhere, but now that they know the Exam's started, they're mentally preparing themselves to fight. That should make it a tad bit more interesting, though not by much._

"Another thing," their proctor continued, "if you're caught cheating, you'll be docked two points. Get caught five times and you're disqualified…meaning you're _entire team_ is disqualified. There are dozens of shinobi that'll be watching you like a hawk, so be honest and don't fuck this up for your squad mates or your country. If you do…"

For the first time since his dynamic entry, Ibiki Morino smiled: "You might stay a Genin _forever_…"

It was impossible not to notice the shiver that ran through the classroom as Ibiki Morino's chilling voice resonated throughout the enclosed space. To his left, Naruto heard Anko comment casually, her furious voice now holding a hint of amusement within it, "I like this guy."

He grinned and nodded in agreement as several Chuunin began passing sheets of paper up the rows of desks. The Chuunin Exams had officially begun.

* * *

Anko gazed down at her paper blankly. She took a cautious look out of the corner of her eye at Naruto and nearly cursed when she noticed the cheerful expression on his face as he quickly dotted down answers. He didn't even need to use his eyes to cheat. Bastard.

Taking a fleeting glance behind her at Gouzen, Anko was nearly driven into a rage when she saw him answering questions with even more enthusiasm than Naruto. That was unacceptable!

She slammed her forehead into her desk roughly, absentmindedly thankful that her hitai-ate was protecting it.

_Stupid Naruto and his love for learning_, she thought with a pout as she sat upright once again. _What's so important about knowing this shit anyway? Determine the angular velocity of the Fuuma shuriken as it—blah blah blah! And Gouzen? That gaki probably read every book he could get his hands on hell when he learned of the "honor" of being on this fucking mission! First that bastard Kabuto, and now this! Tch, whatever. I'll just cheat off someone. Naruto's the easiest. Maybe just a peak—_

Somehow, despite the dozens of pencils scratching away at the papers of their owners' tests, Anko was certain she could hear the disapproving click of a Chuunin's pen as he docked her two points for cheating.

_Dammit_, she thought angrily as she quickly looked back at her paper. _Do I really have to work the problems out myself? That would be so _boring_. Cheating would be a lot more exciting. What could I do…?_

An idea popped delightfully into Anko's head. Forming the signs for a summoning, Anko muttered "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_" and gently placed the flat of her hand against the underside of her desk. She smirked when she felt the cool slither of one of Karasuhebi's children slip around her right index finger and up her sleeve.

Anko didn't even have to think about who she would victimize.

Letting her arm hang limply to the side of her desk, Anko shivered a little as the cool ripple of her summon slid down her arm and onto the floor. She remained facing her test and but kept her concentration completely fixed upon the infinitesimal chakra signature of the snake as it headed for a certain pink haired kunoichi.

Anko may have wanted to introduce Kabuto to his own insides, but she wasn't infuriated enough to try and cheat off of him on a test, let alone with a species of creature the silver-haired boy was probably incredibly familiar with.

_If I can't progress by manipulating _him_, _Anko thought with a wicked smile, _then I guess I'll have to settle for the _bitch_ who betrayed Naruto. _

She licked her lips excitedly as her darling snake rippled silently through the rows of desks and onto her targets chair. It slithered up the polished wood and onto Sakura's shoulder.

Forming a ram seal underneath her chair, Anko muttered as quietly as she could, "_Hebi no Kurome Jutsu!_"

Her once pupil-less eyes suddenly developed snake-like slits and the world in front of her immediately dissolved into a blur as she began seeing through the eyes of her summon.

The vision of a snake was slightly less acute than that of a human's, but Anko's jutsu cleared any and all patches of blurriness that marred her vision. As a result, she was able to easily read the answers on Sakura's paper and store them away into her memory.

To Anko's slight chagrin, Sakura had nearly finished answering the ninth question. Still, it only helped Anko get all of the solutions. And what fun would it be if her snake's poison took effect if the bitch failed the Exam?

_Speaking of which…_

Anko waited until her human hand had finished writing down the last solution to the problem and then mentally commanded her snake to open its maws. She smirked as she felt the vicious teeth extend several inches out of its mouth.

_This is for Naruto you back-stabbing whore!_

The snake reared back with a hiss and then sped forward towards Sakura's tender flesh, malevolence oozing off of it in waves—until its head was cut off.

Anko found herself staring back through her own eyes in a sickening and violent lurch. She clamped her hand over her mouth to prevent the bile in her throat from pouring out onto her desk.

_Wh-what_ _h-happened_, she wondered mentally, clenching her eyes shut in pain as her stomach did another flip.

She'd never had one of her snakes die on her while seeing through their eyes.

_How could someone have seen it_, Anko demanded furiously._ They're fucking invisible!_

Peering through a half-shut eyelid, she chanced a look at her target.

Sakura acted like she had no idea how much danger she'd just been in or that she'd been saved from said danger. Given the focus it would have taken to eliminate her summon, Anko had a feeling the bitch hadn't done anything. Who then?

Anko swept her eyes over the people surrounding the whore, but soon met the terrifying sight of two crimson eyes with black tomoe swirling within them. Uchiha Sasuke—the coward who'd abandoned Naruto—was staring blankly at Anko, his face betraying no hint of emotion whatsoever.

Anko wasn't impressed: _So the emo saves one teammate from a reptile the size of a garter snake, but abandons the other in the face of a dozen Kumo nin? Reeeal brave. Not too bad-lookin' though. _

She glared back at Sasuke with a feral leer, then licked her lips hungrily.

Instead of scowling or glaring in response, the cowardly traitor who'd betrayed her closest friend to save his own pathetic hide…smiled.

It was a thin and horrible smile, barely more than a smirk, but Anko could see the mirth in his cold and blank orbs. In that odd moment, he eyed her with the intentness of a hawk gazing down upon its prey, mind fixated on thoughts of pain and suffering. She'd seen enough crazies in her time with Orochimaru to know when someone was pretending to be sadistic in order to intimidate their opponent.

This boy was not pretending.

For the first time since she'd first experienced Naruto's "episodes", Anko felt fear form a knot within her stomach. Was it enough to terrify her? Of course not. The horrible manner in which her childhood had been robbed from her had given Anko an immunity to almost anything "normal" people would find gruesome or frightening. Still, seeing anybody with that look in their eyes reminded her too much of Orochimaru not to send an involuntary shudder down her spine.

In an instant, Sasuke was staring back into his own paper, mechanically dotting down answers as if he'd never even noticed Anko in the first place.

Anko scowled darkly. Much as she wanted to grab the emo's oily-haired head and start banging it into a concrete wall, passing the test was more important. Besides, they'd have to fight each other eventually and when they did…

The scowl on her face became a delighted grin.

Returning to her paper, Anko quickly started checking over the copied answers…only to realize that she wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a right and wrong answer.

Her scowl once again marring her face, Anko moved on to the final question.

"Instructor will present final question forty-five minutes after start of test," she muttered in confusion.

_The tenth question must be pretty important_, she thought as she glanced up at their proctor.

A smile suddenly lit up her face: _Or he wants us to _think _it's important._

Eyeing the heavily scarred man a final time, Anko nodded silently in confirmation of her theory and then sat back in her chair leisurely.

_What a joke_, she thought to herself, her eyelids closing over her bright orbs in preparation for a well-deserved nap.

* * *

"If you miss this final question, you will be automatically disqualified from the Chuunin Exams…and never allowed to take them again."

Anko's eyes shot open: _What did he just say?_

"That's not fair! You just said we didn't need to answer every question to pa—"

"Situations change," he interrupted with coldly, silencing the blonde-haired Suna kunoichi immediately, "and you have to be ready to adapt at a moment's notice. You're perfectly welcome to quit right now and try again in six months."

Anko sat up and glanced at Naruto worriedly. Technically, they didn't have to pass the Exams. Their mission was to get Gaara, not become Chuunin. However, staying in the Exams would make things a lot easier, especially since it kept them closer to Gaara and farther away from the ANBU. There was also that famous and delightful rule of the Exams that allowed contestants to kill each other. Perfect for when they eliminated Gaara's two companions. Besides, Anko did have some desire to remain in the competition, if only to see how she stacked up against some of the better shinobi her age.

Naruto looked at her out of the corner of his eye and winked reassuringly, instantly calming the anxiety within her chest.

_Even if I don't know the answer_, she told herself as she settled back down into her seat, _Naruto probably will and it'll be easy "cheating" off him. As for Gouzen…_

She didn't even have to look at him: he was _radiating _excitement. Anko could taste it rolling off of him. Whatever this all-important question was, Gouzen was going to attack it with everything he had.

_He'll be fine_, Anko thought.

Her fears assuaged, she resigned herself to waiting for Morino to pop the question.

A hand shot up and voice accompanied it, saying, "I…I can't do this. I forfeit!"

Anko licked her lips and tasted the air, allowing the differing scents of adrenaline and body odors to grate against her tongue.

What she discovered wasn't surprising. Tension, bred out of gut-wrenching fear, dominated the room. As the disappointed Genin and his team exited the room, the remaining participants twitched and fidgeted nervously. Those three were guaranteed another shot at becoming Chuunin and advancing their ninja careers. The rest of them…weren't.

"I forfeit!"

It was a kunoichi this time. Her face, in sharp contrast to what appeared to be a proud visage, was ashen and crushed as she practically ran out of the room. Her two teammates followed close behind, heads bowed in shame.

Moments later, another team forfeited. And then another, and another, and another…a stream of disappointed and heartbroken flowed out of the classroom. From the halfhearted glances many of them sent back at the proctor and the small, fading glimmers of hope within their eyes, Anko couldn't help wondering if there something that could have been done to prevent them from giving up so easily. Maybe a show of confidence from another Genin…

She shrugged. Shinobi who couldn't tough it out didn't deserve to get promoted.

Of course, if she missed the question—

"I will now announce the final question," Ibiki bellowed gravely, his eyes sweeping across the contestants fearsomely. "This is your last chance to preserve a certain possibility of becoming a Chuunin. This rule is my rule alone. There is little to no likelihood you'll come against in another Exam. If you miss this question now, however, any hope of advancing your shinobi career is gone."

No one moved. Breaths were released in small heaves. Anko could feel the familiar sensation of anticipation tingling the nerves in her extremities.

_Fuck_, she thought, awed by the scarred proctor's brilliance, _he's even got _me _on edge. I gotta look this guy up if I ever get the chance._

When it became clear that no one else was going to leave, Ibiki Morino closed his eyes and scowled before saying, "Very well."

Silence…and then, "YOU ALL PASS!"

The class stared at him. Even the reserved Sasuke looked stunned. Personally, Anko felt like laughing hysterically, a sentiment that was apparently shared by Naruto, if the delighted expression on his face was anything to go by.

"What do you mean," a boy with a dog on his head—one of Naruto's former teammates, if she remembered correctly—growled angrily. "Ya lead us on like that, then say we all pass?"

Ibiki smirked and replied, "Yes. One of the greatest duties of a shinobi—some say _the_ greatestduty of a shinobi—is to risk their life for the completion of their mission and the protection of their country. The threat of permanent Genin status is comparable to death for many. One's life alone is nothing compared to that of the entirety of their village. By braving the consequences of this question, you have demonstrated that you possess one of the key qualities necessary to be a Chuunin: iron-clad resolve."

He suddenly barked out, "Genma!"

A puff of smoke burst into existence besides Ibiki and revealed a very relaxed-looking Jounin with a senbon in his mouth once it dissipated.

"Hey," he greeted lazily, "I'm Shiranui Genma, your Proctor for the Second Part of the Exam."

Anko blinked. The man was the picture of indifference, making her wonder if he was related to that lazy kid with the same hairstyle as her. His brown eyes matched perfectly with his hair, which was mostly hidden under a dark blue bandana. That, the senbon, and the complete lack of care in his body language made his entire existence clash with the exotic and fierce Ibiki.

The newcomer swept his bored eyes over the class, then remarked in tone that may have been joking, "Quite a decent number you got here Ibiki. Not gettin' old on us, are ya?"

Ibiki frowned for a moment, but quickly started smirking, "Of course not. I just wanted to give you a few more toys to play with. It's been a while since we've gotten to have fun with the expendables."

Genma grunted in concurrence, scratching the back of his bandana-covered head as his eyes glazed over in thought.

He looked like this for several minutes and showed no signs of stopping, until Ibiki roughly tapped him on the shoulder.

Twitching in surprise, Genma blinked his eyes in confusion for a moment. Glancing at the class, realization apparently dawned on him, for he said apologetically, yet quite uncaringly, "Sorry. Forgot you all were there."

Anko smirked as angry whispers suddenly began filling the room.

Genma didn't seem to notice. He called out calmly, "Follow me to the next testing area. There, you'll join the other contestants who were fortunate enough to pass their tests and then learn about the rules of the Second Part. If you don't make it within thirty seconds of my arrival, you're done."

Forming a ram sign with his left hand, Genma muttered something under his breath and a section of wall to the class' left disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Genma stepped to the edge and disappeared in a blur of speed.

They were all motionless for one moment…but in a burst of panicked adrenaline, the group of Genin leapt out of their seats and through the opening.

Anko, Naruto, and Gouzen were in the middle of the loose pack as they sped after the barely discernible figure of Shiranui Genma. All of them, Anko knew, were worried. To have such a terrible threat hung over them like that was—

_Panic-inducing_, she realized with a humorless smile.

Such simple tricks. Was she really that anxious? Why was her heart racing? Why did beads of sweat form at her temples and slowly ink their way down her pale cheek, until the cooled in the racing wind? Why did she care?

_Because_, she thought with a fierce scowl, _no matter what this fucking mission's about, I want to fight these "prodigies"—the people who Orochimaru wants to make a part of his sick body. I want to prove to them, to him, and to _me_, that I am better! I know what I want and this Exam is the only way to get it. I just hope Naruto lets me..._

* * *

"Welcome…to the Forest of Death."

Genma leaned lazily against a tall wire fence that separated the Genin from the site of their next examination: the Forest of Death.

Naruto gazed up in mild wonder at the size of the trees before him, their sturdy brown bark resonating health and strength. The trees extended well past Naruto's line of sight both horizontally and vertically. He might have been awestruck by the splendor of the _issui_ as they wrapped their golden bodies around the trees, but the brightness of the light was giving him a severe migraine.

_Kinda like the crowd_, Naruto mused, casting a hateful eye at the insane number of participants crowding around him with their large, sweaty bodies. He wondered if the headache had anything to do with his negative thinking. It had begun thrumming inside of his head the moment he stopped moving and entered this ghastly situation and the ethereal glow of the _issui_, normally something that he enjoyed, was now merely exacerbating his suffering.

He wrinkled his nose in disgust, barely hearing Genma spout some ridiculous nonsense designed to intimidate them. Couldn't they just shut up and let them in already?

The pang in his head punched the insides of his brain violently, causing him to gasp in pain.

_What is this_, he demanded of himself furiously. _What am I doing that's causing this pain? _

_Or, is it what I'm _not _doing_, he suggested to himself.

_How could that cause a headache_, Naruto thought in frustration, dismissing the thought immediately.

_Maybe it's not a headache, but a feeling_, another thought wondered, resonating through his head curiously. It continued on: _What if I want to do something and I'm just really, really angry that I can't do it? _

"But then," he muttered to himself confusedly, "what do I want to do?"

The headache had vanished by now, but he could still feel a dull ache weighing on the crown of his head. It was annoying and it caused an unpleasant sensation of nausea to overtake his stomach.

"You sssshould lighten up, Naruto—"

"AHHHHH," Naruto screamed in terror, his arms waving around frantically as he jumped around in shock. "WHAT THE HELL IS THA—"

Naruto stopped mid-scream and stood stock-still as he took in the annoyed and condescending glares of his fellow contestants.

"Geez kid," he heard Genma mutter grumpily, "I didn't mean for ya to scream your ass off. Yeah the Forest's scary, but for a shinobi to scream out loud like a little kid…"

Naruto gritted his teeth furiously as several snickers made their way to his ears. Glancing furiously at the source of the voice that had frightened him, Naruto was met with the faint _issui _pattern of one of Anko's invisible snakes. It nodded to him pleasantly, then faded into nothingness as a sign that it had been dispelled.

He heard another snicker and glared wrathfully at Anko, her wicked grin darkening her features magnificently.

He clenched his fists and ran at her in a rage, "_You little_—"

"Calm down shorty," she interrupted in mock exasperation as she easily slammed her palm into his head and halted his vengeful advance. "Maybe if you weren't such an introverted idiot, you might've noticed that I signed us up _and _got our scroll. Serves ya right to get embarrassed like that."

Naruto struggled to get past her for only a few moments, but soon realized the futility of his actions and pushed himself away from her in a huff. It was just in time to hear Genma proclaim, "Position yourselves beside a gate and prepare for my signal."

Forcing his troubles to the back of his mind, Naruto hurried through the crowd towards one of the gates. When he reached it, he glanced behind him to make sure Anko and Gouzen were following him. To his surprise, he met Anko's apologetic face.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto punched her playfully in the arm: "You're forgiven."

"And who said I needed to be forgiven?" she demanded indignantly.

Before Naruto could come up with an appropriate response, Genma yelled out in the calmest manner imaginable for someone who was ordering around several hundred teenagers, "The Second Test begins now!"

"That's our cue," Naruto muttered to his teammates. He crouched down and leapt into the forest as a dark blur, propelling himself further as his feet glanced against the outstretched branch of a tree. He heard Anko and Gouzen behind him, despite the initial rumble of the entire mass of Genin jumping into the trees they surrounded.

Despite the large quantity of shinobi, the three of them were soon beyond the sight of any other shinobi, mainly due to the colossal size of the Forest of Death. Though their collective speed was great enough to get out of many of their opponents' ranges, Naruto had a feeling that the sheer scope of the terrain would keep battles at a small scale.

He leapt off a branch and zoomed forward, his eyes scanning the abundance of _issui_ patterns for any sign of Gaara's. While this was made more difficult by the abundance of the golden swirls, Naruto's adeptness at deciphering the _issui_, as well as the unmistakable ferocity that Gaara's _issui_ possessed, overcame this obstacle easily. Still, that did nothing for his migraine, which had suddenly decided that now was a perfect time to make a resurgence.

Naruto cringed beneath his neck cover. The trees, while magnificent, were uniform in their appearance. The jumping across this bland and never-changing landscape—up and down, up and down, up and down—only served to intensify the feeling of bile oozing and swooshing within his belly.

This pandoric nightmare went on for an eternity, yet the world saw it as a mere quarter of an hour. The constant motion, so sickening and loathsome to him now, inflamed his mind and he sought out anything that could relieve it. Pounding pain, methodical and unstoppable as the beat of the drums of war, beat against his head mercilessly.

_Wha…what is this_, he demanded again, this time with a desperation that he truly felt. _I—I need… something to ease this wretched throbbing. Something that can give me…peace…_

His senses unconsciously recognized a familiar _issui _pattern. The person's face instantly popped into Naruto's head.

_Yes_, he thought slowly, a wonderful solution to his problem suddenly forming within his belabored mind. _That would be…perfect._

He landed suddenly on the gnarled limb of a particularly thick oak and waited for Anko and Gouzen to join him. When they did, their faces containing a slight touch of confusion, Naruto announced calmly, "I think I've detected a team nearby. We should acquire their scroll in case we fail to capture Gaara in this round."

"Yeah," Anko replied, "but shouldn't we just try to get Gaara and not waste the time? You should be able to track him easily."

Anger slammed into his skull, but Naruto managed to only sharply inhale. For some reason, Anko appeared incredibly annoying right now. Who was she to question his orders?

He bit his lip in dismissal of the thought and then responded to Anko in the steadiest voice he could maintain, "Yes, but so can you. Your snakes are very good trackers. T-this way, we can cover all of our b-bases."

The pain was growing in intensity. He had to do this…NOW!

"Are you sure Naru—"

"_Yes_," he snapped furiously, "_now go!_"

Naruto looked away as Anko recoiled from his words with a hurt expression on her face. Nevertheless, he impatiently waited for them to leave and nearly exploded with rage when Anko muttered an apology.

They did eventually head off in a westerly direction after one of Anko's snakes. When they were beyond his sight, Naruto sped off after the _issui_ strand.

His target was not hard to find, making his trek through the forest much easier on his hurting mind. The monotonous expanse of trees became a blur as he desperately focused in on the _issui _pattern.

His efforts finally came to fruition, for the _issui_ led him to a small, insignificant clearing covered in a thin layer of damp grass.

It was there that Naruto saw the person whose existence had guided him through the pain of movement. A team of three Kumo nin lay huddled together on the ground, their heads bowed together in hushed discussion. There, the older Genin who had pushed Naruto out of the way right before the exams sat directly in the center.

_Yes_, he thought hungrily.

Naruto stood up atop the branch and drew his sword from his sheathe, his ears delighting in the cool sound of the blade as it was slowly withdrawn from its wooden bond.

The throbbing stopped in a wonderful moment of relief as he gazed upon his prey.

_I will silence you, my rage, with the blood of whoever stands in my way…_

* * *

Tsutanai Ijirashii was a typical "veteran" Genin. Bereft of any prodigious talent that made him stand out from the rest of his age group, Ijirashii had been subjected to the grunt Genin force of Kumo just after he'd graduated at the age of nine. For five years, he and his comrades had bravely fought against the ruthless wave of Konoha as it'd expanded into their beloved mountains.

When the war had ended and the enemies he had longed to destroy reigned as the victors, Ijirashii and his squad had been reassigned to peacetime duties as if nothing had ever happened. It had been…horrible. Three years of pretending that he hadn't seen comrades murdered, three years of knowing that the era of a dominant Konoha was beginning, three years of carrying the _humiliation _of defeat…all of it had made him cold and hostile to everything around him. It had progressed to the point that the only thing that concerned Ijirashii was the mission laid before him.

The Raikage had apparently noticed, for he'd entered Ijirashii into the Chuunin Exams and given him his opportunity to avenge the pain Konoha had brought him. He would do this by crushing all of their beloved prodigies…the hopes of their village. That was his only goal: to kill them and forever mar the next generation of Konoha shinobi.

But that dream had been crushed in an instant by some insignificant Ame runt who he barely remembered walking past at the beginning of the Exams.

And now…now he was dying! His life was fading away with the blood that poured out of the gash in his side and his comrades lay cold beside him, their pale faces permanently frozen in their last moment of agony before they'd died.

"Is m-my life t-that meaningless?" he asked in the most helpless voice he'd ever heard escape his mouth.

It reminded him of when he had been a little boy in the park with his mother, before he'd ever entered the cruel and unforgiving life of a shinobi. He'd fallen off a slide and knocked the wind out of his body. His beloved mother had rushed to him and cradled him against her tender bosom with the most wonderful warmth imaginable.

How he wished she were here now…so he could tell her he loved her…so she could hold him close to her and tell him that everything would be all right…

A slender hand suddenly reached behind his back and lifted his torso slightly off of the ground. Shocked, Ijirashii's eyes wildly searched for the source of this disturbance…only to find the red eyes of his mur…murde…who was he again? He looked so familiar. Maybe it was the blood loss…

"I'm here for you," the person whispered tenderly, his crimson eyes boring into Ijirashii's own excitedly.

Hope suddenly kindled within Ijirashii's heart. This person could carry the meaning of his life on to others. He could make his dream a reality!

"P-p-please," he whispered. It shocked him to hear how weak his voice was…but that didn't matter now. Clearing his throat piteously, he begged, "P-please, c-c-carry on my qu-quest. Y-you must…you must…"

He stopped. What was his mission? What was it that he came to do? What was he supposed—of course!

A happy smile adorned his face as the lush leaves of the trees began to fade into a quickly growing darkness. Gripping the person's arm warmly, Ijirashii uttered peacefully, "You must tell my mother that I love her, my dearest friend. She would like that I think…and I haven't said it to her in so long…"

Ijirashii's head lolled limply to the side and his eyes became empty. He was dead and the only tribute he received was the delighted tear of Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

_Shinra Tensei_: Ability to create a "gravity well" in a certain space, allowing Pain/Nagato to push and pull objects away from him at will. Pain/Nagato's Deva Path is the only Path that can do this and when it does, Pain/Nagato has to concentrate solely on that Path. Using Shinra Tensei is so detrimental to Pain/Nagato that it shortens his lifespan, but this side-effect is not present in this case because of how small the Shinra Tensei is. For a more thorough description, you can go to .com and look up "Shinra Tensei". You can also look up his "Six Paths of Pain" technique if you aren't familiar with it. If you're watching the anime and haven't read the manga, then you probably don't know everything about it and I won't spoil anything else for you. There will be some references to Pain's abilities and his Rin'negan in my story, however, so feel free to let me know if I'm in danger of spoiling (which is kind of pointless since you'd have to read the spoiling material in question to know that it was a spoiler…yeah).

_Shikangakkou Sonahaji za Shoshin_: Roughly means "Academy that holds the First Trial". One of three buildings that were recently built to house the enormous number of Chuunin Exam participants. All of them are referred to collectively as the "Shoshin" (First Trial). Thought the title up myself…creative, huh?

_Hinoiri_: Means "Sunset". Opposite of the meaning of the word Akatsuki, Naruto thought it would be fitting to name the team thusly because their capture of Gaara would mark the beginning of the end of the shinobi world. Akatsuki, the "daybreak", will bring about the new world's rise. In other words, the successful completion of their mission will start the "sunset" of the old way of life. I figured that Naruto's team having a specific name wouldn't raise any eyebrows since there were several teams in the Canon Chuunin Exams who had names other than numbers. I felt that Naruto would use something like a team title to build on his weak persona's personality in order to make it more realistic.


	9. Soutou

**A/N****: **Thanks for all of the reviews everyone. I really hoped Chapter 8 met your expectations. Intelligo did point out, however, that my name for the building in which the First Test took place is incorrect.

_Shikangakkou Sonahaji za Shoshin _is wrong: "Sonahaji za" isn't even close to being right. I deeply apologize for that. I've been using an online translator to name important places and buildings, but it had never been this wrong before. The Shoshin (a somewhat correct name for the building) won't really come into the story again, but I'll try to keep names simpler next time. That doesn't mean I won't pay as much attention to detail (I'm very anal about stuff like that), but I won't be _that _specific.

I've also changed the genre of this story from "Romance" to "Drama". I feel that gives a far more accurate representation of the emphasis I'll be placing on certain elements in this story. Don't worry. There'll still be a relationship between Naruto and Anko. It's just not going to play a major factor for a while (when they're older, in case you're wondering).

I will admit that many of the characters will be OOC, the Sandaime especially. He's still going to be as awesome as he was in canon, but some if his values will be quite different from those he held in canon.

Orochimaru is also going to be slightly OOC, personality-wise only. He might seem weak in this chapter, but I assure you that he will be just as strong as in canon, if not more so. There is also a point where Orochimaru's desire for Sasuke may appear sexual, but I promise that this story has no yaoi in it at all and Orochimaru only desires Sasuke for his Sharingan. I should note that this does not reflect my attitude towards homosexuality; my story just isn't focused on sexuality or romance of any kind right now (and when it is, it won't be hentai at all).

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 9 of _Naze?_, titled "Soutou".

Soutou

Anko bit her lip nervously as she played with the dark fabric of her coat. She wanted to believe her anxiety stemmed from the long span of time it was taking Gouzen to scout the area, but the pit in her stomach told her better.

_Naruto_, she admitted to herself sadly.

The rage and hate in his voice had stung her—_still _stung her.

_What did I do_, she asked herself helplessly. _Why did he act that way? Does…does he hate me now?_

Upon feeling this last thought reverberate throughout the scope of her mind, panic blossomed within Anko's chest like a rose from hell. The very idea of Naruto loathing her was enough to make her sick.

She lightly slapped herself on the cheek and then sighed. It would not do to blow things out of proportion. Naruto probably wasn't thinking straight. Yeah, that was it. Why else would he be such an asshole?

Scowling in a manner that virtually dared anything around her to question her reasoning, Anko jumped forward off of the branch and towards a nearby limb.

She suddenly shuddered violently, causing her to miss the limb she was reaching for and fall onto a lower branch with a hard slam. Pain shot through her rump and up her spine.

"Ow," she mumbled with a wince as she rubbed her backside tenderly.

"You okay Anko-chan?"

She almost toppled off the branch in shock. Where the hell had Gouzen come from?

Quickly recovering her composure, Anko stood up and glared at Gouzen.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied indignantly, dismissively waving of her hand as she did so. "Just slipped is all."

_Still_, she thought silently, _what was that feeling? It's not cold or anything._

Sticking her tongue out, Anko tasted the air experimentally. Countless smells immediately bombarded her senses and she retracted her tongue to assess them. She repeated this process several more times in quick succession, but each attempt gave her only the earthly scents of the forest and its many creatures.

Frowning, Anko sighed and leapt off in the direction she'd thought she smelled Gaara in, ignoring Gouzen's startled cry as she did so. The gourd the Suna Jinchuriki carried with him had a disturbingly potent scent about it that Anko knew far too well for her own liking…or perhaps it was _kind of _to her liking.

Out of nowhere, terror slammed into her gut and froze her in mid-air.

Anko's heart pounded furiously against her chest as she sailed through the air, helpless to prevent herself from careening into the branch that waited only feet away from her.

_C-can't…m-move…_

The branch zoomed closer and closer—much slower than she would have thought. Was it her adrenaline? It didn't really matter, she supposed.

Just then—as her leg grazed against the worn bark of the tree's limb—a hand grabbed her ponytail and yanked her up away from the danger. She sailed in an arc for what felt like an eternity before the hand released her, sending into a soft collection of leaves protruding from a branch not dissimilar to the one that had nearly bludgeoned her head.

She lay face down in the foliage for several moments, too stunned to do anything else. Finally she mustered up the resolve to ask, "W-what happened?"

Anko hadn't really been expecting an answer, so she was quite surprised when the shaking voice of Gouzen answered her: "K-killing…intent…"

She flipped up and onto the twigs in an instant, chakra steadying her on the fragile limbs as she whipped out a kunai. All that met her was the image of an exhausted-looking Gouzen, swaying precariously on a branch near her.

_He…fought that off_, she asked herself in disbelief.

Gouzen moaned and collapsed onto the branch, miraculously avoiding falling off of it and plummeting to his death.

Anko rolled her eyes and jumped over to where Gouzen lay, carefully avoiding his sprawled out body as she knelt down beside him.

"Idiot," she muttered worriedly, "why'd ya go and do that?"

_It's my own damn fault_, she scolded mentally. _That killer intent caught me completely off guard. Even so, it would take the most malicious intent to freeze _me_. How the hell did that happen and how the flying fuck did Gouzen remain mobile?_

She glanced down into her teammate's unconscious face. Drool drizzled out of his mouth and onto the bark as his eyes roamed endlessly underneath their fleshy masks.

A chuckle escaped her mouth.

"Perhaps blind certainty isn't so bad after all," she remarked with a smile, unconsciously checking Gouzen's pulse as she did so.

Icy needles of fear abruptly shot through her abdomen, causing her to double over in pain. Excruciating misery tormented her very being as she helplessly waited for the wave of killing intent to abide.

_W-whoever's doing this_, she thought, mind struggling to maintain coherent thought, _h-has killing i-intent as powerful as—_

"No," she mumbled disbelievingly, not even noticing that the pain had abruptly stopped. "He can't be…not here…"

Anko gazed out into the endless expanse of trees, which suddenly seemed far darker and more malicious than before. Endless scenarios played out in her head, all of them involving _him_ licking their limp bodies with that disgusting tongue. If _he _was here…

Her eyes narrowed murderously…truly, her rage at the very thought of _him _was so great that the thought of seeing that bastard impaled upon her kunai sent waves of pleasure throughout her body.

"Wherever you are, whoever you're fighting," she declared furiously, "I don't care. There's nothing that will stop me from killing you…Orochimaru!"

* * *

Anger. Such a word was pitiful in describing the intense feeling burning inside of his chest. Fury, wrath, rage…all were stronger than something as boring as "anger", but still, none of them came close.

How could they? How could any word devised by humanity, who knows not the true depths of their own emotions, adequately describe the fire burning so terribly within his heart? HOW?

He hated himself for his weakness. He loathed everything about him that forced him into this wretched and ignoble position. The position of a dog begging its master…

Uchiha Sasuke opened his eyes, only to find the detestable blur of fatigue marring his vision. Not that there was much to look at. Only the ground upon which his bruised and battered knees currently rested provided anything to gaze at.

"W-why," he asked helplessly. "Why a-am I so…so—"

"Weak?" suggested a highly amused-sounding voice.

He flinched…and then grimaced horrifically as blood burst out of his left arm in a violent splash.

"Ahhh," he gasped piteously. His body fell forward, but Sasuke's pride would not allow himself to submit to that final weakness. He forced his right hand in front of him and slammed it into the ground, temporarily holding himself up.

"Poor Sasuke-kun," the voice mocked with sinister sympathy, "how horrible it must feel to be so _feeble_. It almost makes me wonder if I should have wasted my time with you. You didn't even see me cut you just now, did you? Isn't your Sharingan active, or are your chakra reserves so low that you can't even afford that much? Either way, it's quite pitiful."

The source of the voice chuckled maliciously and stepped out from under the shadows of the trees above. A pale and slender face, augmented exotically by purple eyeliner and snake-like eyes, leered at Sasuke hungrily from underneath stray bits of flesh. Those pieces of tissue were the last remains of the disguise the man had bore before Sasuke had blown it off with a Katon jutsu. To Sasuke's utter dismay, the man had been pleased…_very _pleased.

Or at least he'd been pleased before. Now, despite the smile, he seemed somewhat disappointed and that really, really pissed Sasuke off. He had no idea why he cared what this disgusting freak thought; all he knew was that he despised being called weak by anyone, especially an enemy.

"Sh-shut up," he tried to yell. Unfortunately, it only came out as a whimper, inciting another horrid chuckle from his tormentor.

"Sasuke-kun," he remarked after his merriment had finally ended, "if only willpower was of use to me. Of course," the man glanced down at the bloodied body of Tadashii, "I might have been after _him _instead of _you_."

He ran his left hand through his hair, but stopped just as he was about to release several strands. Keeping his hand perfectly steady, he let the strands elegantly hang over his fingers.

A cackle that reeked of wickedness suddenly burst forth from his mouth. When his merriment had ended, he declared with malicious mirth, "The very idea that I, Orochimaru, would use _this _body is so laughable that it's almost…"

His hand dropped to his side, the strands of hair gracefully fell across his face, and a single word escaped his delicate lips: "…sad."

Sasuke gaped at him. Though the shinobi known as Orochimaru had been only briefly covered during his time at the Academy, Sasuke had gleaned enough to know that the man before him was considered to be one of the "Three Legendary Ninja of Konoha". His mind was racing desperately and he could feel the first vestiges of panic irrationalizing his thoughts.

"Calm down," he muttered forcefully to himself. "There has to be a way out of this. There's always a solution…"

"You'd be surprised how wrong you are, Sasuke-kun."

Orochimaru's chilling hand wrapped around Sasuke's throat from behind, freezing his muscles with terrified adrenaline.

_H-he's…he's so fast_, Sasuke realized fearfully as Orochimaru lifted him up and then threw him back to the ground.

Sasuke heard and felt his chest crunch in on itself. Pain soon burst through Sasuke's body, bringing blood up his throat and out of his mouth in the form of a violent, hacking cough.

"Yet again you disappoint me," Orochimaru declared sadly. "I had expected so much from the brother of Itachi. I marveled at his idiocy in keeping you alive. Unfortunately, I think I can understand why your dear brother spared you're life. What threat could someone of your skill possibly pose to him?"

The pain in his chest suddenly seemed insignificant. The blood that poured out of his mouth and nose, dripping solemnly onto the moist soil of the forest, was meaningless.

"What did you say," Sasuke asked quietly.

"Oh," Orochimaru replied with mock sympathy, "have I struck a nerve?"

"_SHUT UP!_"

Activating his Sharingan and sweeping his legs behind him in one motion, Sasuke aimed the heel of his foot at Orochimaru's nose. He knew his attack wouldn't hit, but that wasn't the point.

Orochimaru, his amused smirk never leaving his sick face, dodged the attack exactly the way the Sharingan told Sasuke he was supposed to. Just as the snake-like shinobi arched his back away from Sasuke's foot, Sasuke placed his left arm behind his right in a crisscross pattern, twirled his legs and body in a violent whirl, and then used the momentum to push off from the ground in the opposite direction of his enemy.

"Interesting," Orochimaru muttered appreciatively as Sasuke landed several yards away, "perhaps you're worth my time after all."

Sasuke immediately began forming seals, ignoring his enemy's apparent lack of concern for his own safety. That was good. He'd need this guy to underestimate him as much as possible if he hoped to win and get Sakura to safety.

At the thought of his beloved teammate, Sasuke's eyes wandered ever so slightly towards the tree which Sakura currently sat upon, over fifty meters away. To his relief, he could only see her because of his Sharingan.

_Not that that should surprise me, _he thought with a tiny bit of pride.

Sakura's chakra reserves were small enough that she was able to hide them from someone of Kakashi's caliber…on a good day…a _really _good day. Nevertheless, she had once successfully hidden from their sensei long enough to hit him with a Suiton. Besides, a Jounin's sensory abilities were off the charts and Kakashi's even more so. It didn't matter if Orochimaru was super-powerful: he couldn't know Sakura's exact position without something like a Sharingan.

"You shouldn't waste your focus on your teammate, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru lectured mockingly. "You'll need everything you have to defeat me."

Sasuke grimaced.

_Of course he could sense her_, he thought to himself scornfully. _He's one of the Sannin and Sakura's only a Genin. Still, this means I have to incapacitate him long enough so Sakura can get away. Damn…_

"Don't mess up now Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said, ignoring Sasuke's exasperated expression. "I'm quite excited to see what jutsu you have in store for me. In fact, I think I shall clear the way for you so that you have no distractions."

Orochimaru lazily extended his arm, unexpectedly prompting a massive snake to burst out of his index finger, wrap around Tadashii, and toss him away into the forest. He landed with a resounding _crunch_ that made Sasuke wince

It took all Sasuke had to keep from leaping after him. Tadashii, no matter how hollow his existence felt to Sasuke, was still a teammate and he'd sworn to never let another one of his comrades die again. But Sasuke was very aware of the reality of the situation: Orochimaru was faster than him and wasn't slowly bleeding to death. At this point, all he could do for Tadashii was hope.

Narrowed his eyes determinedly, Sasuke ignored his teammate's plight and continued forming handsigns.

"Very good Sasuke," Orochimaru exclaimed with twisted delight. "The obliteration of your enemy is always your first and foremost concern in battle. Everything else—"

"Obliterate the enemy," Sasuke suddenly interrupted as he brought his hands together in the tiger seal. Raising his voice so that Orochimaru could hear him, Sasuke proclaimed savagely, "Yeah, I think 'obliterate' is the _perfect _word for what I'm about to do to you."

He extended his arms out in front of him with the palms facing Orochimaru and cried out, "_Katon: Ensho no Jutsu!_"

Ripples of heat immediately billowed out of his hands in rumbling cloud and then slowly began seeping through the air towards Orochimaru, igniting everything it touched into a ferocious fire.

For his part, the Sannin looked elated, as if the sight of something he didn't understand immediately enthralled him. The eager gleam in his eyes and the saliva-coated tongue that passed over his lips unnerved Sasuke greatly.

Orochimaru observed the slowly moving heat cloud for a second more, but finally frowned and casually leapt away onto a distant branch.

"Disappointing," Orochimaru remarked with mock sadness in his voice, "and after such an incredible overture too. It's like you Sasuke," he suddenly proclaimed, as if having an epiphany, "propped up as a genius without equal, but soon revealed to be nothing more than the regular trash. How tragic."

The Sannin let out a twisted chuckle that somehow drowned out the sounds of the different fires as they sprang to life. Sasuke, however, wasn't worried.

"Old man," he growled sinisterly, his voice apparently audible above the flames if the a glare he received from Orochimaru was anything to go by, "you have no idea how wrong you are!"

The thrill of victory racing through him like lightning, Sasuke slammed his palms together and screamed out, "_Ensho Souki: Jihatsu Nenshou_!"

Orochimaru barely had time to widen his eyes before flames erupted everywhere across his body in the form of spikes, bursting out of his skin like the frenetic roots of a deracinated tree. The snake Sannin could only shriek in agony as his skin bubbled and crackled with the heat. Layers of flesh peeled off of Orochimaru's body and disintegrated as they flew up with the heat into the air.

Orochimaru's screams harmonized hellishly with the flames that wrapped around his body. It was this sight—of a burning silhouette writhing in agony—that brought back one of the most disturbing images in Sasuke's memory: Naruto dying.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Now wasn't the time to wallow in _that _particular memory. If anything, he needed to use the tragedy of Naruto's sacrifice as fuel to win this battle. He would not let any more of his teammates die. To fail in such a manner would be the greatest insult he could give to Naruto's memory and to the memory of his Clan.

Separating his hands and then extending his arms forward with his fingertips pointing towards Orochimaru, Sasuke prepared to activate the final stage of his jutsu.

Hoping that Sakura recognized what he was about to do and knew to get as far away as possible, he inhaled slowly and uttered, "_Ensho Oikomi—_"

"Sasuke-kun…"

The voice, seductive and engrossing, froze Sasuke like ice. Orochimaru stood mere feet away from him, body coated in a revolting film of saliva. His snake-like eyes glowed with lust.

"Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru repeated, the wet strands of his hair shadowing his face as the flames roared behind him, "you will be a most _excellent _addition."

Before he could do anything more than gape, Orochimaru's neck extended towards Sasuke in a blur. Darkness abruptly began stealing his vision as Sasuke felt two sharp pricks on the left side of his neck.

* * *

Naruto neatly folded the Kumo nin's hands over his chest and stepped back to admire the setup.

Three bodies, pale and caked with blood, sat peacefully against the strong bark of one of the great trees that populated the forest. From a distance, one might have thought them to be taking a long, well-deserved nap.

Naruto searched the surrounding area for Anko's _issui_ as he casually placed the scroll he'd recovered from the now deceased team into the strap that held his tanto on. The light that radiated off of the organisms of the forest posed no problem for him as he swiftly deciphered every stray wisp that flowed through his line of sight. As a result, he found Anko's _issui _in no time and quickly leapt into the trees after it.

He ran through the mass of interweaving branches and limbs for several minutes without interruption—save for the occasional Genin team that happened to catch the breeze of his movement as he blurred past them—until a painful wave of killing intent slammed into his gut and forced him to hurriedly land.

A painful chill wracked his body, forcing him to lean against the tree for support. Every one of his limbs shivered in the cold that plagued them. The power of this intent made Gaara's look like the humorous temper tantrum of a child and the ache that rattled Naruto's bones made that fact all too real.

It ended as abruptly as it had begun, or perhaps it had been a long time and he'd been too concentrated on the pain itself to notice. Regardless, there was no hint of it left within him.

_Whoever the hell that was_, he thought to himself worriedly, _I hope Anko and Gouzen aren't anywhere near them. Could it have been that silver-haired guy back at the First Test?_

At the thought of his beloved friend, Naruto cringed. If there was anything that stood out clearly in the blur of pain that was his memory before he killed the Kumo nin, it was the way he'd talked to Anko…and the hurt on her face as she had taken off.

_I'll apologize when I meet up with her again_, he reassured himself. Another thought, a bent and perverse link in his mental chain that no amount of willpower could prevent, immediately followed: _…if I meet up with her again_

Gritting his teeth in worry, Naruto took off from the tree limb and resumed his trek after Anko's _issui_.

* * *

Anko only had time for one helpless gasp before she was out of the air and into a bush.

"ANKO-CHANI'MSORRY!"

Naruto's bright crimson eyes were focused entirely on her collarbone as he spewed out incoherent babble. Anko waited for her heart to slow down to a normal level before slapping her distressed friend on the backside of his golden head.

"OW," he yelled out angrily, the glare he sent her a clear indication that he'd gotten over his remorse. "What the hell was that for?"

"You're being an ass," she replied casually.

He gawked at her and replied indignantly, "How is apologizing to a friend 'being an ass'?"

"Well," she raised her knees up and kicked him off of her with a grunt, "tackling me in midair into the ground just to apologize is kind of stupid. And you didn't even do anything that mean."

Naruto flew back and landed on his ass. Glaring at her, he tried to retort, "But—"

"I guess I'm still stuck on the fact that ya _tackled me in midair_," she interrupted, the annoyance easily evident within her voice.

Naruto blinked.

"Oh," he finally responded, his voice bashfully quiet. "Well…I didn't do that just to apologize to you. I was…um…"

Outwardly, Anko smirked mockingly; inwardly, however, she felt relief flood her anxious heart with cool delight.

"Were you worried about your lil' Anko-chan?" she teased playfully.

He crossed his arms and turned his head away in a pout, an expression Anko somehow saw despite his neck cover.

"Get over it ya big baby," she continued, leaping to her feat with feline-like agility. "It's natural that you would be worried about losing something as valuable as me."

She flashed him a bright grin and was pleased to see him smirk in return.

Anko extended a hand to him and when he took it—with whimsical reluctance, she noted—she hoisted him to his feet and unconsciously gave him a once over to see if he'd been hurt by the fall his diving apology had caused.

"Are you done okaasan*?" Naruto taunted with a roll of his eyes.

Anko stopped and stared at him, the ghost of a smile on her face, and then said in a loud voice, "Hear that Gouzen? Na—er, Jinkou thinks I'm his mommy!"

Loud, boisterous laughter instantly resonated from the tree limbs above. Anko grinned wickedly as Naruto moaned.

"C'mon mamma's boy," she said to him with a mocking flick to his forehead, "let's try to find Gaara. We'll use the five days to—"

"I think he's already out," Naruto interrupted, his voice suddenly despondent.

"What do you mean?" she asked worriedly, all mirth immediately gone from her mind.

"His _issui_ is incredibly faint right now," he replied, "and earlier, I felt this incredible killer intent that screwed up a lot of the patterns. If I can find the trail again quickly, then maybe we could catch him. But from what the report said—"

"—He'll be out in a few hours," Gouzen interrupted with unusual serious as he landed onto the ground beside Naruto.

Naruto nodded sadly.

Anko stared hopefully at the two of them for a moment, a touch of desperation in her heart as she realized what they might have to do if they couldn't get Gaara in the Forest of Death. When neither gave any hint of optimism, she groaned.

"Do you realize how hard it's goin' to be to capture that lil' punk?" she complained loudly. "When the hell can we get him _now_? Konoha'll be watchin' us like a goddamn hawk and even if we somehow manage to find him in an isolated area, the battle will draw the attention of every shinobi in this stupid city! The last test probably won't be this loose in their rules either and I don't think Suna will take too kindly to us carting their leader's son off to Ame after we've beaten him. Unless…is he still useful in pieces?"

"No," Naruto replied flatly.

"Damn!"

"Look," Naruto interjected, "we'll just have to accept the fact that Gaara's beyond our reach for the moment. We'll still follow his trail as fast as we can and we might be able to catch up. If not, it'll lead us to the tower and we can form a strategy before the Final Test."

"There's a flaw in your plan, Jinkoumaru," Gouzen pointed out anxiously. "We need two scrolls to get to the tower. We have a…um, what do we have Anko-chan?"

"Heaven scroll," she responded quickly.

"Right. So we need an Earth scroll. Without that we can't—"

"Does an Earth scroll have the kanji for 'Earth' on it," Naruto asked curiously.

"Uh, I think so," Gouzen replied in surprise. "Hey, I thought you weren't paying atten—"

"Here you go."

Naruto pulled a scroll with the kanji for "Earth" on it out of a small sack on his sword belt and casually tossed it to Gouzen, who fumbled with it for a moment before hurriedly snatching it and hugging it to his chest.

Anko felt suspicion worm its way into her chest and she asked Naruto quietly, "Um, Jinkou…where'd ya find that?"

As soon as she saw him flinch—a movement only she would notice—Anko knew exactly what he'd been doing.

"Oh Naruto," she muttered sadly, her voice too low for Gouzen to hear.

Naruto, however, did hear her.

In a disturbing display of frenetic desperation, Naruto was beside her. His arm latched onto her own with the strength of a drowning man.

"Anko," he whispered, his young voice now fraught with fear and anxiety, "I-I know what you're thinking and I…you're right. It's wrong and I shouldn't do—but I had t-this headache, you see? It wouldn't stop…it wouldn't l-leave me alone…"

Anko mustered up the courage to stare into her friend's eyes. Their beautiful crimson hue, normally mirthful and merry, was now surrounded by the face of a wretched and starving man. They were jittery and wild, frantically searching her face for any sign of forgiveness.

_At least he knows it's wrong_, she thought to herself reassuringly. _At least he's as scared of losing me as I am of losing him. Naruto…_

He released his arm from her, prompting her to glance down to see where it had gone. She was dismayed to see both of his wringing each other relentlessly, tugging at the skin like a hungry infant at its mother's breast.

Anko softly placed her own hand over them and their motion stopped instantly. She returned her gaze to him and smirked tenderly.

"It's all right," she said with gentle whimsicality. "I won't—"

She stopped and breathed deeply, terribly aware of Naruto's cold and slender hands beneath her own. Anko hated being emotional or sappy. She and Naruto were both very comfortable with facing even the most horrible of situations with disinterested sarcasm… except when those horrible situations involved their friendship.

"I won't ever abandon you because of your 'habits'," she said to him with renewed confidence. "Just…let me know when you get those headaches again. Okay?"

Her worry vanished when she saw the delight that illuminated Naruto's face. He nodded to her happily and turned away, his posture one of total relief.

"All right," he announced loudly, as he clapped his hands together, "we've got our plan and there's nothin' that's gonna stop us! So—oh, I forgot! Gouzen," he glanced at their teammate, who had been staring at the both Naruto and her in confusion before Naruto's jubilant outburst, "can you take care of her?"

Gouzen twitched in surprise at the sudden command, but quickly recovered and nodded.

"Sure," he replied, "but do you want to get somethin' out of her first?"

Naruto looked down in thought for a second, before shaking his head and responding, "Nah. We don't need to."

Gouzen nodded. He formed several handsigns in quick succession and then called out, "_Ninpo: Bachiatari no Hougyo_!"

A moment later, agonized screams exploded from a tree several dozen meters away. An instant later, the screams devolved into choked gurgles.

Five very boring minutes passed and then all sounds that the unfortunate kunoichi had been emitting from her doomed body finally faded away.

Gouzen nodded and the three of them leapt off into the forest. Anko stole a glance at Naruto and was thrilled to see excitement brightening his countenance. Reassured of his mindset, she quickened her pace and sailed into the forest ahead.

* * *

_Several days later…_

"…and as such, we will be holding one-on-one preliminary matches to thin the number of participants. They will begin now."

Naruto morphed his face into an expression of horror. This was made difficult by the pity he was feeling for their very, _very _sickly proctor. How this Hayate Gekko qualified for a position as a Chuunin Exam proctor was beyond Naruto. His very presence invoked images of bedridden invalids.

Repressing a weary sigh, Naruto stole a glance at their target and then swept his gaze over the congregation of shinobi.

Gaara looked as calm as ever, though his _issui _still moved with insane energy. Perhaps more worrying was his lack of wounds of any size. No scratches or cuts from the many thorns that populated the forest were visible on his fair skin.

_Given his ability_, Naruto thought wryly,_ I guess I shouldn't be surprised. _

Everybody else, however, had not been so fortunate. The grime of travel and battle was born by all. From the dim glaze of their eyes to their bent postures, fatigue was the watchword of the Genin that populated the room.

Team 7's injuries were the worst by far. Sasuke looked ready to pass out and his once perfect skin was marred by innumerable slashes and cuts. His raven-haired head wobbled unsteadily atop his shoulders and he would have surely fallen to the ground had Sakura not been holding him up. She was far less injured than Sasuke, but her haggard visage was more than enough to show how tiring the journey through the forest was. Their other teammate—whose name Naruto had happily forgotten—also looked fatigued. A large, bloody scar ran around his right eye and down his cheek and a red blotch of blood angrily yelled out against the white cloth that was wrapped around his left shoulder.

Truthfully, none had escaped the Forest unscathed.

Except for Gaara's teammates of course…and Naruto's.

Naruto, Anko, and Gouzen had arrived at the Tower just slightly over fifteen minutes after Gaara and his team had. They'd been so close…

The Tower had been guarded too thoroughly, however, for Naruto to harbor any hopes of capturing Gaara inside. As soon as they'd arrived, all of them had scoured the area for any potential holes in the protection. As Naruto had expected, Konoha had the place completely filled with ANBU.

During the four days that they'd been subsequently forced to wait, only one team arrived at the Tower. Moments after the three of them had stepped into the clearing, however, their leader abruptly keeled over and died. From what Naruto could glean from the conversations of the Tower nurses, the poor lad had been poisoned with a slow acting toxin.

After that, no one else had appeared within a hundred yards of the Tower until the beginning of today. The interaction with Gaara's team before that had been nonexistent, as Naruto didn't want them to question why he, the weakling who had cowered before the sight of them, had been able to make it through the Forest so quickly. Up until the current moment, none of them had given any indication that they knew another team had made it.

Now, Naruto forced himself to look innocent and anxious as the Sandaime Hokage droned on about the meaning of the Chuunin Exams. This portion was given especial importance considering the tumultuous political situation that had preceded this particular Exam.

While gazing into the Hokage's wizened face, Naruto offhandedly remembered idolizing the man as a child.

_How foolish_, he thought amusedly.

That amusement ended quickly, however, when Hayate took up the position of "boring speaker" for another ten minutes. Finally, the sickly proctor ended his speech and announced, "The Preliminaries will begin now. Two names will appear randomly on the large screen behind me and those contestants will battle one another. This is your last chance to back out. Are there any among you who wish to quit?"

The silence lasted for only a moment, before a voice called out, "I would like to forfeit, Hayate-san."

The entire room swerved their attention towards the raised hand in the middle of the crowd of genin. It belonged to—

"_Kabuto!_"

Naruto glanced worriedly to his side at Anko and was saddened to see her face contorted in a mixture of rage and loathing.

"If that is your desire," their proctor replied, "then you are free to leave. Is there anyone else?"

This time, no one answered. The fading footsteps of Kabuto, whose sandals softly clattered against the tiles of the room, were alone in their retreat.

Naruto returned his attention to the center of the room, but not before taking another anxious look at Anko. Her face was a canopy of hatred and confusion, no doubt brought on by the abrupt departure of her former tormentor.

_Part of me isn't surprised that he left_, he thought calmly, _though I would be amiss to ignore the part that is. His _issui _were very different from many of the other shinobi I've encountered here. He's certainly above the level of a Genin, possibly even above an average Jounin. The patterns of his _issui _were too exact and controlled for a novice. Yet they were smooth and fluid, like the movements of a snake slithering towards its prey. How interesting…_

"The first two names are up. Everyone to the balconies except for Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru and Rokujou Tadashii."

Naruto started to walk off with Anko, intent upon discussing the Kabuto matter with her, when she suddenly turned around and slapped her hand into his forehead.

"Wha—"

"It's your turn to fight _Jinkou_," she growled angrily, before giving his head a hard shove backwards. This caused him to slip and tumble onto the ground in possibly the most embarrassing manner he could imagine. The awkward silence that dampened the room did nothing to ameliorate the situation.

"Get up Jinkou-_chan_," an annoyingly familiar voice called out. "Or is your sense of 'courage' getting in the way again?"

Naruto slowly stood up and then glared at his opponent. It took him only a moment to reconnect the name that had been called out to the smug, yet exhausted face before him:

_My replacement._

A thin smile, whose existence was known only to Naruto, crept its way across his face.

_I can't go all out_, he thought to himself, _but that leaves me with plenty of room to have some…fun. I wonder if I can sneak in a few comforting words as he bleeds to death…_

_

* * *

_

Naruto eyed his opponent carefully, all the while forcing his body stance into that of an unsure rookie.

Tadashii looked to be around Sasuke's height and his build was that of a wiry boy beginning the arduous trials of puberty. Messy chocolate hair fell over his hitai-ate just above his eyes and a black shirt, whose separate sleeves were cut off at different angles, revealed several odd objects that piqued Naruto's interest greatly.

The right sleeve was cut off just above his elbow, revealing a chain that wrapped around his entire forearm and extended to his back. Attached to his back was a moderately-sized object garbed in black cloth. While this gave no indication as to what Tadashii's tool might be, the weight that was attached to the end of chain underneath the boy's forearm was more than enough for Naruto to know that his opponent wielded a _kusarigama_*.

_I wonder if he knows how to use it properly_, Naruto wondered curiously. _He doesn't seem like the long-range type. Then again, his size could possibly be a distraction from his actual area of expertise._

Naruto turned his attention to Tadashii's other sleeve and found that there was actually no sleeve to speak of. The sleeve had been cut off right where it met the beginning of the arm. Apparently, this was to allow for the six kunai attached to different points along his arm via ninja tape.

"Done checking me out," Tadashii mocked impetuously.

"I-I sup-p-pose," Naruto replied fearfully, all the while wondering if he was laying his weakness on a bit thick.

"Good," Tadashii replied viciously, "then let's start!"

Naruto barely had time to hear their call out "Begin!" before Tadashii zoomed towards him in a burst of speed and brought his fist towards Naruto's face.

For that split second before contact, Naruto debated whether or not to take the punch. Truthfully, he didn't have a lot of endurance when it came to taking chakra-fueled hits and since he wasn't exactly sure how long he needed to drag this fight out to win in a manner that still kept him under the radar, the idea of having his body wearing down did not sound like a pleasant prospect.

For what felt like a very boring eternity, Naruto waited for the attack to be within an inch of his face. When it finally arrived, he leaned back easily and then ducked through the large gap in Tadashii's legs as he sailed over him.

Naruto nimbly leapt up into a standing position and once more put his body into a basic taijutsu stance. To his dismay, Tadashii took several moments longer to regain his footing and when he did, he glared at Naruto with an incredulous look on his face.

"How the hell did you dodge that," he demanded furiously.

Naruto cringed. Had he overdone it? Had he used too much—

"You may want to duck dumbass."

Naruto could only gape as Tadashii appeared behind him and slammed his fist into the center of his spine. His body flipped and somersaulted across the room and into the opposite wall, which he impacted with in a massive crash of pain.

To Naruto, the world was a blur of pain and embarrassment. How could he let this little _punk_ distract him so easily?

"Geez Tadashii," he heard Kiba call out with a chuckle, "ya didn't have to hit the poor kid that hard."

Naruto noticed Tadashii shrug and heard him reply, "I wanted to get this one over with. Besides, I wanna be in top shape when I kick your ass."

"As if! I'd wipe the floor with you in a heartbeat!"

"What was that?"

And so they continued to yell at each other, despite the repeated reprimands of their teammates. Naruto sighed and urged his still aching body to stand up.

_Little bastard_, he thought in annoyance, _and I can't even pound his face in for real! Ugh…will I even be able to kill him without giving away anything? Probably not. Figures. Try to have a little fun and the world spits in your face. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to get creative._

Naruto was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the entire room staring at him until Tadashii and Kiba stopped yelling at each other.

He glanced up in surprise at the silence and was met by looks of disbelief from everyone, most especially Tadashii.

"I think he really is surprised this time," Naruto remarked quietly to himself.

Flinching as if unused to such attention, Naruto looked around nervously and then gave a small wave to his audience.

"Umm…could everyone stop watching me please," he asked meekly.

"We have nothing else better to do idiot," someone called out, eliciting a wave of laughter from the majority of the crowd.

Naruto scratched the back of his head anxiously.

"You're a real hard ass Tadashii," he heard Kiba mock in ignorance of the slight against Naruto. "If your punches aren't strong enough to hurt that little pipsqueak, how the hell do you expect to fight someone of my caliber?"

"Shut up ya mutt," Tadashii replied angrily, his gaze never leaving Naruto's virtually unharmed body. "I'll just have to hit him a little harder. That should make this Ame bitch stay down."

Naruto glared at him with very real anger, but was forced to cut it off when Tadashii disappeared in a blur of speed. Naruto already knew what was coming. The boy was pretty fast for a Genin, but Naruto could easily see him in his "blur of speed" and was quite ready for Tadashii to run behind him.

Therefore, when Tadashii drew his fist back to punch him, Naruto whipped his arm behind his back, caught his opponent's forearm, and used it as leverage to back-flip over him.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Naruto swiftly located a position on Tadashii's back two inches to the right of veiled object, stabbed it with chakra-reinforced fingers, and then leapt away to a safer position.

Tadashii was not coordinated enough to counter the momentum of his arm, which Naruto had pulled backwards during his back-flip, and fell backwards onto the ground. He leapt up as quickly as he could, but Naruto could already see the _issui _disappear where he'd hit him the back.

_It worked_, Naruto thought gleefully. _Pressure points _do _have a thicker assortment of chakra coils around them than other spots on the body. I can't see all of them without the Byakugan of course, but I do know some of the basic points. This will be good chance to test out my eyes. But if I do that, I'll incapacitate him to the point where killing him will be viewed as unnecessary. But…_

Naruto licked his lips hungrily beneath his neck cover.

_Just a little nip is all_, he reasoned, the excitement in his chest growing at the thought of Tadashii's dying words. _A little gasp of pain would be enough. Even a desperate look in his eyes would do. If only we were alone! Then I could have _all _of him. _

He exhaled sharply, dispelling the ever-growing restlessness of his thoughts. Before he could decide upon an appropriate course of action, however, the _issui _of a chakra-energized kunai instantly caught his attention. Naruto instinctively cocked his head to the left and allowed the blade to whizz past his right ear.

Seconds later, a spike of stone erupted out of the ground in front of him and flew towards his still tilted head. Naruto leapt in the opposite direction of the spike's trajectory, only to be met by another stone missile bursting out of the ground towards him.

It took Naruto only a moment to realize what Tadashii was doing and he quickly twisted around the spike, allowing it to sail by him into the ceiling. Naruto landed on the ground and quickly analyzed Tadashii's condition:

_Sweat forming along his brow, eyes wavering and unsteady, muscle tremors along forearms…the fool's too low on energy to be using ninjutsu._

Naruto blinked and then leapt into the air to dodge another set of spikes. As if on cue, a spike of earth and stone burst forth from the bowels of the arena's floor and sailed towards him. As he whipped himself around it, Naruto saw the next spike peeking out of the ground directly below him.

_So he makes two spikes and only launches one in order to determine where to fire the second one_, Naruto thought as he waited in the air for the next projectile to launch. _Therefore, he must be trying to wear me down to keep me from dodging his physical attacks. He also seems to have no control over the spikes once they are launched, meaning he uses chakra to rapidly form a piece of earth into a blade like form, then push it out of the ground with a large amount of force. That's gotta be taxing. Also, given that he appears to be underestimating my capabilities, this is probably not his strongest attack. Perhaps he has a jutsu that allows him to control the spikes. _

The next spike had erupted from the ground while Naruto was thinking, but by the time it reached Naruto's position in the air, he'd already flipped over it.

When he landed, Naruto's chest heaved in a wretched manner and his eyes, glazed over in exhaustion, were almost totally concealed by eyelids that appeared too heavy to hold up.

All of this was a complete fabrication of course. In actuality, Naruto could have continued dodging the spikes until Tadashii dropped dead from chakra depletion, but that would have been quite tedious and Naruto was itching for some excitement. Four days cooped up in this dull building had left him restless. That and the headaches were starting to come back. He needed a release from his pain and Tadashii was the perfect specimen.

_Unfortunately_, he thought disdainfully as he pretended to eye Tadashii fearfully, _I can't actually kill him without drawing suspicion and I don't think people would take too kindly to my little ritual. How dull this is._

"You're…dead…ya…scrawny…shit," Tadashii yelled out, the menace his voice greatly diminished by the heaving breaths he took after every word.

Despite this apparent exhaustion, Tadashii somehow found the energy to slam his hands together and cry out, "_Doton: Yomi no Kasui!_"

Three massive spikes burst forth from behind Tadashii and flew straight toward Naruto. As they zoomed past Tadashii, Naruto noticed his hands twitch and the kunai attached to his arm disappear.

Smiling beneath his neck cover, Naruto leapt into the air and dodged the three spikes as he had been the entire match. He landed and, counting silently to three in his head, abruptly fell to his knees.

His smile widened when he heard Tadashii give a victorious yell. It widened still further when he felt the chords of Tadashii's kunai wrap around his arms and squeeze them against his body.

"NOW DIE!"

The spikes, attached to the chords via the kunai implanted in their sides, swung around Naruto's body in a whirling spiral and then collapsed upon him. All that remained was a pyramid of stone.

* * *

Sakura winced at the sound of the explosion, but quickly sighed away her misgivings about Jinkoumaru's death and turned her attention to Tadashii. The boy did wonderfully despite being so exhausted and, given Jinkou's meek performance, would more than likely have finished the match within moments had he been at full strength.

This fact did not prevent the other Konoha genin assembled from looking upon the makeshift grave that Tadashii had created with revulsion. It had been too long since they'd seen anyone die in war. Even Tadashii looked sickened by what he'd done.

Voices began filling the brief silence that had followed Tadashii's final move and the occupants of the room began moving on to other, more consequential matters.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke and was alarmed to see his body swaying back forth.

"Sasuke!"

All of his motion ceased instantly and for one horrible and obscene moment, Sakura thought _everything _had stopped. Fortunately, his eyes opened and his breathing resumed, prompting Sakura to start breathing again herself.

Sasuke glanced at her and gave her a weak smile. She supposed it was meant to reassure her, but the lack of energy behind it only caused her to worry more.

"I'm fine Sakura-chan," he said firmly, though the effect was ruined when he unconsciously grabbed the bar of the banister to steady himself.

Sakura opened her mouth to retort, but a dark glare from Sasuke silenced her instantly. Pursing her lips, she returned her attention to Tadashii, who was just now standing up.

As he started walking off, the ground behind Tadashii suddenly exploded in a captivating display of dirt and tile. The blond mane of Jinkoumaru burst forth into view right behind the debris of the explosion. Jinkoumaru flew forward with the force of the explosion straight into Tadashii. His fingers jabbed into where Tadashii's right kidney would be.

Sakura's eyes widened horrifically as the fingers touched Tadashii and Jinkoumaru cried out, "_Isei no Shinsoku!_"

Blood vomited out of Tadashii's mouth as he fell helplessly to the ground. Jinkoumaru, bleeding and bruised from digging, flew several feet past Tadashii's prone body until he finally skidded to a halt face first upon the ground.

The room was deathly silent. No one moved, no one spoke…all attention was focused solely on the two forms below.

The gravelly voice of the Hokage broke the silence in the gentlest manner imaginable, "Bring out the medics."

As if expecting such an event, two teams of medics, stretchers balanced between their arms, raced out from some unseen room and was by the side of the two boys within moments.

Sakura couldn't help noticing the medic next to Jinkoumaru check his pulse and then nod approvingly, signaling for him to be hoisted up onto the stretcher as he did so.

She turned back to the medics hovering around Tadashii. They showed no emotion that she could use to understand what was wrong with her teammate. An unfortunate by-product of the white masks that covered their faces.

_Please_, she begged inwardly to some nameless force, _we can't do this again…not again…_

_

* * *

_

Naruto wrinkled his nose as it brushed past the starchy stench of the stretcher. Such blandness annoyed him to no end, though he found it very hard to be perturbed about anything right now.

_How wonderful that was_, he thought ecstatically as he felt the medics hoist his stretcher up and away to some unknown destination, _and how simple it is to fool these idiots. A few self-inflicted cuts and a little dirt and suddenly I can make a 'desperate' kill without attracting too much unwanted attention. And the look on his face! What magnificent desperation! The hopelessness, the internal cry for explanation and comfort…such a beautiful death indeed…_

Naruto had to keep himself from squealing in delight as he mentally recounted the exquisite way in which Tadashii's kidney had shut down and the blood had flowed from his mouth. To his great surprise, he found himself falling asleep.

* * *

**A/N****: **Hope you enjoyed this chapter everyone. I sincerely apologize for the long delay. As said before, the next several chapters will cover some of the Preliminary fights. I'll try to speed this part up so we can get to the Finals. In concern with Gouzen's prowess, I wanted to make him somewhat of a competent ninja, as I didn't think Pain would send someone worthless to aid Naruto on such a dangerous mission.

As always, I deeply appreciate any and all constructive criticism you provide, so all of you please review as much as possible. My writing still needs a whole lot of work and you can be a great help to me in improving it.

Oramo

_Katon: Ensho no Jutsu_: "Fire Release: Heat Wave Jutsu"

—_Ensho Souki: Jihatsu Nenshou_: "Heat Wave Second Stage: Spontaneous Combustion"

Okaasan: "Mother"

_Ninpo: Bachiatari no Hougyo_: "Ninja Art: Demise of the Damned"

_Kusarigama_: Chain and scythe with a weight at the end of the chain on the opposite side of the scythe. Many historians believe that, historically, it was used for scaling walls rather than fighting, but given the content of this story I think we can bend the rules a little.

_Doton: Yomi no Kasui_: "Earth Style: Spikes of the Underworld"

_Isei no Shinsoku_: "Corrosion of Power"—Chakra poisoning of a specific area in the body. Naruto marks the area by shutting down the _issui_


	10. Taji

**A/N****:** Greetings everyone. Hope you enjoyed "Soutou". All of you seemed to like it and that's very encouraging. This chapter will sort of breeze over the remaining matches. The next chapters will cover Naruto's experiences throughout Konoha during the one month break. After that, it'll be the Finals and I have a feeling many of you will be…pleased with what happens.

So, without further ado, I present to you Chapter 10 of _Naze?_, titled "Taji".

_Taji_

Sakura watched the scene unfolding below as her terror burgeoned within her heart.

Their proctor bent down near the venerable Hokage's mouth and, after several minutes of whispered instructions, walked to the center of the room where all could hear him.

"The winner of the match," he called out in a firm voice, "is Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru. This is due to the fact that he delivered the final blow and—"

"Bullshit!"

The majority of the congregation turned towards a very irate Kiba. This wasn't very surprising to Sakura, given how much Tadashii and Kiba were looking forward to fighting one another. Still, to openly curse at a superior officer was going beyond the calls of rivalry.

Kiba didn't seem to think so, for he continued yelling, "Tadashii woulda whipped that kid's ass! Hell, the only hit that scrawny lil' shit got on 'im was when everyone thought the match was over…including Tadashii!"

"Then that was his mistake," Hayate responded coldly, "and he was punished accordingly. I never declared the match over because Jinkoumaru's chakra signature was still active. A good shinobi never underestimates his opponents, a mistake that Tadashii clearly made by assuming his enemy was defeated. Therefore, Jinkoumaru was completely right in taking advantage of Tadashii's weakness. And next time you question a superior officer's orders, do _not _address them in such a disrespectful and offensive manner. Do I make myself clear, Inuzuka?"

Kiba glared at Hayate for a moment, but quickly looked away when the once sickly and fragile man returned it tenfold. Even someone as rash as him knew when to hold their tongue.

"Hayate-san," a much calmer voice called out suddenly.

Hayate glanced up into the crowd and, upon seeing the source of the voice, replied, "What is it?"

Sakura recognized the owner of the voice to be Shikamaru and turned to get a better glance at him. She could only see the tips of his pineapple haircut, but that didn't prevent her from hearing him respond, "With all due respect Hayate-san, didn't you say that the match is a draw when the two contestants are both unconscious?"

Hayate frowned, but quickly answered, "In most cases, that would be the outcome. However, given that Jinkoumaru was still conscious when the medics arrived and Tadashii was not, that particular rule does not apply. Besides, Tadashii's current condition will most certainly not allow him to compete at full strength by next month, whereas Jinkoumaru has a better chance of doing so. It would only be endangering Tadashii's life to place him in the Finals; but again, that option would only be in consideration if he had actually met the conditions of victory. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes sir," Shikamaru replied quietly.

Sakura swallowed hard. What kind of injuries would be bad enough to keep someone like Tadashii from active duty for more than a month? What if they were life-threatening?

She scrunched up her eyes in silent denunciation of the thought.

_No_, she told herself firmly. _He won't die. Jinkoumaru wouldn't—maybe I don't know him that well, but he just doesn't seem the type to try and murder someone. Wait! I told him Tadashii hates Ame! What if he…NO! Just keep calm Sakura. Tadashii won't die. He won't let himself die. That idiot has to know what that'd do to me…and Sasuke._

At the thought of her beloved teammate, Sakura glanced over at Sasuke and was not surprised to see his dark eyes fixed upon the group of medic-nin huddled around Tadashii. Those onyx orbs, normally calm and analytical, were now dominated by only one emotion: fear. That, coupled with the pain he'd been feeling ever since their fight with that freak, left the once regal-looking boy pale and gaunt.

Sakura's once terrified visage instantly softened and became one of comfort. She gently placed her hand on Sasuke's shoulder and gave it a little nudge.

His black eyes, suddenly filled with irrational fury, whipped to where her hand rested. They quickly dimmed to nothingness, however, upon seeing that it was her who had roused him.

Brushing her hand away, Sasuke muttered, his fear and physical misery now hidden behind a mask of mild annoyance, "I'm fine Sakura."

"You don't look fine," she replied stubbornly, her tone suddenly nauseatingly similar to her mother's.

Sasuke scowled and did not reply.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but forced herself to turn back to Tadashii.

She blinked upon realizing how much calmer she was now. Comforting Sasuke, she surmised, had provided an outlet for her worry and allowed reason to reclaim control over her mind. As she watched Tadashii lifted up onto the stretcher and carried away by the medic-nin, her fears were only further mollified as she remembered the renowned doctors and physicians that worked within the Konoha Medical Corps.

"He'll be all right," she whispered to herself. "Hokage-sama would never let one of our own die. Never!"

The medical team soon disappeared into the hallway from which they had come, leaving the tiled floor empty of human life save for Hayate-san. There were, however, numerous memorials to Jinkoumaru and Tadashii's battle.

The spikes Tadashii had so ferociously yanked up out of the ground and into the air still hung precariously from the ceiling and the hole where Jinkoumaru had burst forth from was lost in the garden of fissures created by Tadashii's jutsu.

Sakura knew, however, that the supervising instructors would change nothing. Like a real battlefield, the terrain was constantly changing as the battle—or in this case, battles—wore on, forcing different shinobi to develop new strategies as they faced a random opponent. At least, that's what the Exam rule book had said about the Finals. Since no shinobi came out to clean the mess, though, Sakura felt safe in her estimate.

A loud whizzing sound drew the entire room's attention to the massive screen atop the wall behind the massive hand statues that were held in the ram hand-sign.

They stopped abruptly on two names.

"Haruno Sakura and Abumi Zaku," Hayate shouted to the room, "come forward immediately."

Sakura jumped at the sound of her name. She turned towards Hayate and saw him staring at her, a clear indication that her name had, in fact, been called.

"Sakura?"

She whipped her head to her left to find Sasuke gazing at her concernedly.

"I-I'm fine," she muttered quickly as she turned away.

"You don't look fine," he replied instantly.

Turning back to glare at him, she was stunned to see him smiling. Not smirking, but _smiling_.

"D-did you," she stuttered out, "just make a comedic reference to my earlier s-statement?"

"Yes."

Silence.

"YOU BASTARD!"

Silence broken.

"How dare you develop a sense of humor right before I'm about to go into a life-threatening battle! You're lucky you're the last Uchiha, or I'd rip your—"

"I don't see why you're so upset," Sasuke interrupted with as much cool as he could maintain amidst the fear of suddenly losing the ability to remake his Clan…and other things. "It was just a simple joke."

"Exactly," she responded furiously. "A joke from _you_! And it had to be right before I fight to the death?"

He glared at her and uttered coldly, "Then it won't happen again and you can count yourself fortunate as the only person to ever endure my humor."

Her anger dimmed considerably and she was afraid she'd gone too far. Still, that didn't mean she was going to apologize for anything. What right did someone as cold as Sasuke have of making the first joke in his life right before she fought one of those freaky Sound nin from the new village?

She huffed and turned away to head down the stairs. As she reached the first step, however, she heard Sasuke mutter quietly, "Good luck."

Sakura allowed herself a smile and then continued on.

* * *

_Wind and rain passed across his body in the strangest, most wonderful motion he'd ever experienced. They swirled around and around and around, endlessly dancing in awe of their own beauty. How he wished to join them, free his soul from this fleshy tomb be as one with the world. Free from the pounding headaches and the terrible burden of knowing that he was too brutalized to care about killing. Anko would love it here, where the wonderful sights, sounds, and sensations were not diminished by flimsy human equipment. Emotions were released in a great explosion of happiness. All was—_

Darkness. Or rather, the light of the physical world was muffled by the flaps of skin one called eyelids.

"I guess I was dreaming," Naruto whispered sadly.

"Was it a good dream?"

Everything froze for Naruto. The voice, cheerful in a way only one who had endured many years of life could manage, brought back an infinite array of memories and dreams that Naruto had long ago forced himself to forget.

Taking a deep mental breath, he opened his eyes.

Sitting comfortably in a plain wooden chair, white robes radiating regality and wisdom in the light streaming through the hospital window, was the Third Hokage.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake," his former idol said with the same contagious cheer. "I must say, I'm quite jealous of you young people. You fall to sleep so easily."

Naruto stared at him.

The Hokage did not seem bothered by this, for he pulled out his pipe—something Naruto recognized from what felt like ages ago—placed several pinches of tobacco into it, lit it, and then wrapped his mouth around with especial delight. Several puffs of smoke followed, filling the space with a pleasant aroma that excited the hairs of Naruto's nostrils.

"What is truly impressive," the Hokage said finally as he puffed on his beloved pipe, "is how quickly you recovered. Very few Genin would have the fortitude or capacityto endure such damage and come out of it relatively unscathed."

Naruto blinked, still too stunned by "Ojisan's" appearance to take account of the meaning of what he'd just heard.

"Is something wrong, child?" the Hokage suddenly asked, concern softening his once mirthful tone instantly.

Naruto swallowed hard and, mind racing with possible solutions to his current predicament, hurriedly replied, "N-no, Hokage-sama. I'm just a little surprised that you would grace the presence of one so lowly as me, especially considering I'm from another village."

The Hokage smiled at him and answered, "Don't think too much of it, my boy. I visit all of the participants who've been wounded in the Chuunin Exams. There are a great many, so my day is pretty full!"

The Hokage gave a small chuckle, causing Naruto to smirk beneath his neck cover—until he realized that he didn't have a neck cover because his shirt had been replaced by numerous bandages

Worry and confusion laced his thoughts as he tried to understand his current situation: _Why am I being treated as if I was seriously hurt? Why do I even need bandag—oh right! _

The fog of sleep around his memories dissipated instantly and Naruto remembered grabbing a kunai and cutting himself with it after he'd dug his tunnel. But even those wounds weren't serious enough to warrant a prolonged stay in the hospital. Were the doctors here really that foolish? Unless…

"Hokage-sama," he asked respectfully, carefully avoiding any of the habits he remembered engaging in when talking with the Hokage all those years ago, "how long have I been out?"

The Hokage assumed a thoughtful expression and then answered, "Around four to five hours. Again, I'm very impressed with your recovery rate. It's almost as if your injuries weren't as serious as they first appeared, which is quite fortunate in my opinion."

Naruto had to fight to keep from punching himself in the face.

_Four to five hours_, he demanded of himself incredulously._ I thought that pill was supposed to make me sleep for—oh…I didn't take the pill 'cause I fell to sleep…on…my…own—damn it! Now the Hokage probably suspects me of holding back. It's okay, it's okay; I just have to maintain a low profile and show everyone that I'm "weak". But if and when Gaara is captured, I'll definitely be on the suspect list. Ah hell! I need some kind of distraction. Holding back really isn't going to cut it anymore then. In fact, I might drop off the suspect list if I don't hold back in the Finals, because everyone will just assume that I was holding back to throw my Exam opponents off guard. That'll work! As for capturing Gaara, the distraction will have to be pretty big to get Konoha off our trail. That's for later. Right now, I need to find out what I missed while I was asleep. Anko's gonna kill me when she finds out how long I slept. Oh wait! I can't just waltz in like this! I'm supposed to be seriously hurt. Hmm…_

As Naruto's thoughts raced through his mind in an instant, a solution to his immediate dilemma popped into his head.

"Hokage-sama," he asked suddenly, turning his attention to the old man, "may I go and watch the remainder of the match? I feel good enough to cheer on my teammates."

A mischievous smile lit up the Hokage's face as he replied, "Of course. I'm surprised you hadn't asked sooner. You seem to be in good enough shape to fight another battle!"

Naruto chuckled lightly and then responded, "That would be nice, but I don't think I feel _that _well. If it's no trouble, could I please have a pair of crutches? I've never had to jump like that before and—"

"Say no more my dear child," the Hokage interrupted, cutting off his excuses with a crisp snap of his fingers. "Let it never be said that Konoha does not provide for its guests."

A nurse entered the room with a pair of steel crutches perfectly suited for his height.

In genuine bewilderment, Naruto began to ask, "How did she…?"

"Konoha has one of the finest medical clinics in the shinobi world," the Hokage answered cordially as the crutches were laid beside Naruto's bed and the nurse exited. "As such, we are quite equipped to handle the needs of a small twelve-year old boy."

Repressing the slight indignation he felt at the "small" comment, Naruto rolled the cover off of him and gingerly swung his legs over the bed's edge. He winced as he did so, but was careful to gauge how believable his gasps of pain were. Naruto was well aware of the Hokage's nickname as "The Professor", which meant that there was literally no margin of error when it came to trying to disguise one's true motives while in the presence of such a powerful shinobi.

Naruto pulled the crutches onto his chest, placed his hands on their soft handles, and hoisted himself into a standing position on his left leg. He held his right leg a few inches above the ground and began hobbling towards the doorway.

"Perhaps you would appreciate a tunic to cover your wounds?"

Naruto glanced at the hospital shirt held in the outstretched arms of a nurse, nodded, and then carefully leaned against the wall with his left arm stretched forward for the first sleeve.

The nurse smiled and helped him into the light green garment. Naruto marveled at the comfort of the shirt as he pulled the overly wide sleeves reached past his hands and over his fingertips.

"Is it to your liking?"

Naruto looked up at the Hokage and replied gratefully, "Yes Hokage-sama and I thank you for it most heartily."

"Think nothing of it," the old man said kindly. "Your other shirt has been sent back to your room completely untouched, as well as your blade."

Grinning as he tied a black strap around the open shirt, Naruto prepared to exit the room with the nurse in order to return to the Preliminaries.

As he reached the entrance, however, a thought came to him that sent a small tinge of worry through his gut.

He turned to the Hokage and asked, "Hokage-sama, if the Preliminaries are going on right now, why, and I mean absolutely no disrespect at all, are you here?"

The Hokage grinned toothily and then abruptly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto, despite the mountain of problems that lay ahead of him, couldn't help but grin back.

* * *

"Winner: Mitarashi Anko!"

Anko stared down at the man in front of her in mild contempt, but was careful to only exhibit exhaustion as she fell onto her rump. Breathing heavily with the "effort" of the battle and tingling pleasantly from the many wounds she'd inflicted on herself, Anko decided to wait a little while longer to get up.

"Hyuuga Neji and…Hyuuga…Hinata!"

She winced a little as their proctor coughed between words, but nevertheless found sitting on the ground quite relaxing. The Hyuuga twins, or cousins or whatever the hell they were to each other, could wait a tad bit longer.

"Move trash," a firm and imperious tone commanded calmly.

Or perhaps not.

Anko glanced behind her and met the milky, lavender eyes of who she assumed was Hyuuga Neji. Or rather, she looked at the backside of his head as he walked past her without so much as a twitch of recognition. He had obviously expected his order to be followed.

She was half-tempted to keep sitting there just to see what the arrogant prick would do, but the thought of Konan-sama's stern glare sent too many shivers down her back to ignore. If there was one person besides Naruto who she would absolutely despise herself for disappointing (secretly, of course), it was Konan-sama. The woman's grace and deadliness was an incredible inspiration to Anko and, though she had trouble admitting it even to herself, she aspired to become as powerful as the "Lady Angel". For her, that would be the day she planted a kunai into Orochimaru's sinewy neck.

"Exit the floor now Mitarashi, or you will be disqualified immediately."

Anko nearly glared at Hayate, but nevertheless stood up and quickly scrambled to the stairs. By the time she reached the landing, the fight had already begun.

Gouzen gave her a congratulatory pat on the back, to which she grunted in response.

"Nice lil' show, Anko-chan," he whispered in her ear merrily.

Anko smirked and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"I thought you didn't like the whole 'holding back' idea," she said mockingly.

He guffawed cheerfully as he replied, "Yeah, but now I'm _really _looking forward to these assholes' faces during the Finals!"

Anko's smirk widened into grin and she responded, "I hear ya, but don't get too cocky. You haven't won yet."

"Pleeease," he crowed dismissively, "like any of these guys could take _me_! We started with sixty-three—well, sixty-two participants, right? I've waited this entire goddamn time and I ain't seen _nobody_ special. 'Cept maybe that Gaara kid…and his opponent! Now that guy's got style! He looks like a complete ass in that spandex, but he sure as hell knows how to fight! Besides that, though, not really much else has come along that's impressed me. How about you?"

This time, Anko laughed. The boy's unbreakable confidence was almost contagious and she couldn't help but keep him going.

"Maybe," she replied between chuckles, "but there's still the Uchiha."

Gouzen snorted.

"Look at that little shit," he said with a derisive sneer. "Asshole can barely stand up. Ya know, I almost want him as an opponent. Easiest. Fight. Ever. Then again, I'd think I'd prefer an actual challenge. The kid with the black glasses looks tough. Think he'd be good fight?"

"Maybe," Anko answered again as she turned her gaze onto Uchiha Sasuke.

The boy did look worse for the wear and his hand kept snapping up to a spot on the left side of his neck. A memory Anko had long ago repressed jumped to the forefront of her mind. It was of Orochimaru clamping his fangs down onto her young neck.

Anko involuntarily glanced at the area that was bothering Sasuke so much, but found it as pale and bare as the rest of his visible skin.

Relief from a panic she had not known she'd felt cooled her insides.

This relief quickly turned into anger when, out of the corner of her eye, Naruto's silver hair came into view from within one of the four corner tunnels leading out of the arena. Though he was accompanied by a nurse and was on crutches, the fact that he returned looking in such good spirits after all the controversy that his match had caused was not beneficial to their mission.

Just as Naruto was about to come into view to the entire arena, he glanced up at Anko with a smile on his face…and then noticed the murderous glare she was sending him. Miraculously taking her hint, his face became one of complete and utter misery, his body movements more akin to a person in severe pain than the joviality he had expressed earlier.

It was in this manner that Naruto quietly entered the room. Anko was confused, however, when he stopped only seconds after he'd entered her line of sight. She received her answer when Hayate suddenly yelled out, "Winner: Hyuuga Neji!"

_Oh yeah_, Anko realized as she focused her attention on the now concluded fight below.

Staring at the thoroughly broken body of the girl—Hinata, if Anko remembered correctly—someone unused to such a sight might have been repulsed by it. Her fair and compassionate face was splattered with her own blood, which slowly poured out of her mouth and pooled together around her head. One might have thought her dead if she didn't give a hacking cough every few moments.

Bored with the scene, Anko made a quick, imperceptible motion with her hand towards Naruto to come to her. To her surprise, he didn't immediately obey. She stared at him angrily, until she noticed where his attention lay.

Even from this distance, Anko could see Naruto's crimson eyes boring into Neji as the boy frowned for a moment at his hurt opponent and then turned to retake his place on the balcony. For her part, Hinata looked crushed, utterly and completely. Her exotic eyes were a mixture of rage and hatred, but Anko had a feeling that Hinata only felt those loathsome emotions for herself.

The medics were on Hinata immediately and soon had her on a stretcher. As they passed by Naruto down the tunnel from which he had come, Anko saw him smile warmly to her and then say something. Though Hinata's face was concealed, the slight twitch in her body was more than enough indication of the impact Naruto's statement had just had.

Curious about what her friend had said, Anko waited impatiently as Naruto slowly hobbled across the floor towards the foot of the stairs. He then staggered up each step, metal crunches noisily clattering against the stone all the while, for the entire span of the next fight.

When he finally stood before her, Anko gave him an appraising stare.

Her eyes widened upon seeing what he was wearing for a shirt and she burst into raucous laughter, drawing the annoyed stares of several other Genin.

Naruto blinked at her innocently and queried, "What's so funny?"

"You're wearing…a w-woman's…shirt," she said between laughs.

Naruto glanced down at the clothing covering his torso, patted the areas around its chest cautiously, and then replied meekly, "It's still quite comfy."

Anko rolled her eyes and slapped him on the back of the head playfully.

"Didn't know you were into that stuff, _Naru_-chan," she teased.

He smirked, but said nothing in response. Instead, he turned to look at the two contestants fighting below.

After a moment of silence, Anko asked seriously, "What did you say to that girl?"

"That she had a lot of potential," he replied emotionlessly, his gaze still on the two combatants.

"Why?" she asked incredulously. "What do you care?"

He sighed and replied, "I don't know. She was in my class and was always really quiet and timid. I don't remember interacting with her that much, but seeing her lying there in her own blood alone…it made me feel like I should have done something. Did her teammates do anything? The dog boy and the bug user?"

Anko shook her head and said, "No. The dog kid went up against this Oto nin who emitted sound waves from his arms, so it kinda sucked for him. But, that loud mutt did manage to bring it to a draw. On the other hand, the bug guy doesn't really talk much, so no surprise that he did nothing."

Seeing the dejected look on Naruto's face, Anko quickly added, "If he'd been able to, I'm pretty sure, um…is it Kiba? Yeah, Kiba would have helped her no doubt and he'll definitely help her get through this. He seemed the type, ya know? Even the bug kid looks like he cares about her and if that emo-looking weirdo can feel things for the girl, then there's nothin' to worry about!"

Naruto remained silent for a while longer and then replied softly, a smirk slowly growing across his face, "It's odd hearing you of all people call someone a 'weirdo'. Almost hypocritical."

Anko grinned. She was about to retort, but Hayate's sickly voice once again cried out two names:

"Uchiha Sasuke and Tsuppari Gouzen, please come to the floor immediately!"

Anko turned to her enthusiastic teammate and was not surprised to see him looking very, very excited.

As Gouzen began happily sprinting towards the stairwell, Anko took a glance at Naruto.

Sadly, Naruto's young face now looked old and worn. His attention was completely focused on the raven-haired Uchiha as he slowly limped his way to the floor.

"Sakura won," Anko commented suddenly. "She actually put up a decent fight, though she was still a little bitch when it came to hand-to-hand fighting."

Naruto smirked, but said nothing.

Anko was half-tempted to force him to start talking again, but decided against it. Naruto needed to deal with the existence of his former teammates by himself. If he needed her, she'd be right there by his side to help.

* * *

Sasuke stared down his opponent warily. If he was anything like his teammates, then there was nothing to worry about. The burning pain in his neck, however, had the potential to present a serious problem. It was already blurring his vision and for Sasuke, his ability to read his opponents' body language was key to his fighting style. A fuzzy image melding in with other, equally indistinct images was not good.

_But I can't just survive_, he thought to himself as he heard Hayate give them permission to begin. _I'm marked as one of the elite. Neji and Gaara are a part of that group and the only way that I can test my strength against shinobi as strong as them is by defeating this nobody. All of the Genin here were in awe of their power. Even that idiot Lee exhibited amazing strength. But, I will trump them all. I will grow stronger so that I can protect Sakura and Kakashi from harm forever…and kill Itachi! This worthless cannon fodder in front of me cannot pose a challenge to my power. I will not allow it!_

The burning in Sasuke's neck suddenly exploded with pain. His knees buckled underneath him and he nearly fell to the ground in a shameful heap. With his hand furiously clenching his neck, Sasuke furiously willed his body to remain standing.

Suddenly, the agonizing pain disappeared completely. For one blissful moment, this feeling of heavenly relief, powerful and beautiful enough to momentarily dispel his hatred, filled his entire body with wild joy. It was then abruptly replaced with the pain of his opponent's fist.

Sasuke's head snapped backwards with a loud _pop_ and he collapsed to the ground in a heap.

"Sasuke!"

The boy lay reeling upon the ground, his thoughts completely disjointed as he attempted to figure out what had happened. He was so rattled that it took him several moments to realize his eyes were closed.

Cracking them open a fraction, Sasuke was met by a wall of blurriness that lasted three seconds too long. A massive brown blur zoomed into view just as Sasuke's vision began to clear. Instincts forced his body to roll to the side. He felt the air around Gouzen's fist blow across his left cheek as he leapt away.

"C'mon Uchiha," he heard his opponent taunt ruthlessly, "ya gotta have more in the tank than _this_."

The pain in his neck was back and more potent than ever.

_Thrum…thrum…thrum…_

This hellish beat played over and over within the veins of his neck, ready to burst into roaring flames at any moment.

Yet the pain was nothing compared to the rage boiling within his mind. Merely looking at the sneer on that worthless bastard's face made Sasuke want to bash the Ame shinobi's head into a wall. Imagining Gouzen's death, however, gave Sasuke some semblance of pleasure.

An idea suddenly came to him and it went completely against Sasuke's usual policy when fighting. In fact, it was so contradictory to his nature that he was loathe to try it. Instead, he tried to activate his Sharingan. The pain in his neck increased tenfold, like a steel pike bursting forth from his collar bone.

Sasuke cursed under his breath, but did not become dismayed. Four years of training with Kakashi had taught him that the prized bloodline of the Uchiha did have its limits. He was more than capable of holding his own without the valuable doujutsu. It just made things…inconvenient.

_Okay_, Sasuke thought to himself as he watched Gouzen pull two kunai from a pouch on his leg, _that snake freak did something to affect my Sharingan. Or did it affect my ability to use chakra? Only one way to find out…_

Gathering chakra to fire a simple Katon, Sasuke began to bring his hands together in the Tiger seal. His neck flared up immediately, but this time he couldn't hold himself up under the pain and fell to his knees.

Gouzen charged instantly upon seeing Sasuke begin to fall and threw one of his kunai at his body. Sasuke flipped backwards and then ducked under the punch to his head that he knew Gouzen would throw. He was correct in his assumption and when Gouzen lost his balance from his own lunge, Sasuke wrapped his arms around his enemy's head and thrust his knee straight into Gouzen's stomach. Gouzen only had time to gasp before Sasuke drew his fist back and punched him in the face.

As Gouzen fell back onto the ground, Sasuke jumped several feet away to form a new strategy. Something was off about his opponent's movements. They were halting and awkward, as if the larger boy was fighting his own instincts.

_Is he trying to hold back_, Sasuke asked himself incredulously. _I suppose it makes sense given that he'll have to fight one of the people who're watching if he wins. But…does he seriously think _I_ will go down that easily?This idiot obviously isn't used to keeping his true power in check, which means he's probably dying to use it on me. I'll just have to get him angry enough to go "all out". Fool! Even weakened as I am, no shinobi of his level could ever dream of defeating me. This is actually to my benefit. This "nuisance" is hiding my true abilities from the other competitors, so I can make my victory here look like an intense struggle. Which, I will admit, it probably will be._

His plan set, Sasuke regained his feet and waited for Gouzen to reorient himself.

The large boy took an inordinate amount of time to get up, so much so that Sasuke almost regretted not immediately following up his attack. When Gouzen did resume a standing postion, Sasuke wasted no time in riling him up.

"Hey," Sasuke called out, using a tone he'd not spoken with in a very long time, "dobe! From the way you were talking, I thought you had something more to show. I was obviously wrong. What a waste of time…"

Gouzen's eyes narrowed menacingly and he growled out, "What did you say?"

Sasuke assumed an apathetic expression and impassively replied, "I won't repeat myself to the likes of you."

"You bastard! You think this is all I've got? I'll show you more power than you could possibly imagine!"

Sasuke smirked.

_That was easier than pissing off Naruto_, he thought with a small hint of amusement. _Of course, Naruto eventually started catching on, which really took the fun out of getting him angry._

The pleasant memories of Team 7—the true Team 7—seemed to dull the pain in his neck a little. Sasuke couldn't help wondering if the grinning spirit of Naruto had something to do with it.

* * *

"Oh hell," Naruto muttered sadly. "Gouzen's gonna get his ass kicked."

Anko looked over at her melancholy companion and flicked him in the head with her finger.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"Don't be so pessimistic," she replied coolly. "Gouzen's an idiot sometimes, but he's not weak. Besides, that emo-brat looked exhausted from—"

"No," Naruto interrupted, the certainty in his voice too great for Anko to deny, "Sasuke's going to win. He…he kind of used to pull that trick on me back when we were teammates."

Anko scowled and asked with frustrated confusion, "What trick? He just acted like an asshole and—oh fuck."

"Yep," Naruto agreed gloomily. "That's what more reserved people have over enthusiastic, boisterous loudmouths: they drive us insane with rage, mostly because we wish to be like them. Gouzen and I share that particular quality, though I've had some success in mitigating it over the years. Basically, Gouzen's gonna lose his head, make stupid mistakes, and give Sasuke an opening to beat him. Sasuke did it to me every freakin' time we sparred. It's like he practiced or somethin'. In all honesty, though, Gouzen's not exactly that hard to piss off. All I had to do was ignore him a little bit and he was ready to rip my head off. He'll be even more susceptible now.

"But why," Anko asked in disbelief. "Gouzen's not that foolish."

"This is Gouzen's chance of separating himself from the generic shinobi foot-soldiers of Ame. He's putting his skills on display in front of the best of his peers _and_ some of the most powerful shinobi in the world. To have his abilities questioned in front of them would be infuriating for him. Ironically, that irrational fury will be his downfall. Really, this is going to be good for him. A defeat here should open Gouzen's eyes to the 'reality' of the shinobi world. He'll just have to learn restraint and patience. If he does, he'll be a great ninja. If not…"

Both Anko and Naruto sighed in preemptive mourning for their teammate.

The battle raged on below them and the cries of Gouzen's impressive repertoire of jutsu rang throughout the entire arena. Unfortunately, the last thing to be shouted out was not a cry of victory from their exuberant comrade.

Instead, it was the gravelly voice of Hayate Gekko that broke the silence.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke!"

Sasuke stood gasping for breath over the unconscious body of Gouzen and was obviously exhausted from his efforts. Exhausted enough, apparently, to give a small wave to Sakura's high-spirited cheers

Naruto eyed his past teammates with an odd mixture of emotions: grief, jealously, anger...all of them blurred together within Naruto's mind in a haze of misery. But he was used to that by now. Four years of repressing the intensity of the memory of that horrible day, as well as hardening his heart against that pain that still dwelt within them, had given Naruto the strength to look upon his former friends and not cringe in remorse.

But even such a long period of time could not keep out the pain of seeing Sakura wrap her arms around Sasuke in tender relief. Gazing upon them as they embraced in victory, Naruto suddenly felt very, very alone…and that loneliness made the grief, the jealousy, and the anger grow all the stronger.

* * *

The last few matches were nothing to get excited over. Naruto hardly paid attention to any of them anyway, even those that contained his former comrades, such as Shino. He just wanted to leave and take a nap, despite having slept for several hours already. Of course, Naruto knew that he didn't want to fall on his soft, luxuriously downy bed to catch a few more winks of sleep. It was to find something to bury his face in and hide from the world. Forever, if possible.

Another wonderfully convenient reason to just leave and sprint as fast as he could back to his apartment was the migraine growing within his head like a tumor. Maybe it was a tumor. Regardless, his head was throbbing. Every time his thoughts strayed, Naruto would unconsciously focus on the growing pain. He felt the veins crisscrossing over brain pulsating with sickening strength.

Fortunately, Naruto was fairly certain his headache had nothing to do with his "desire". Watching Tadashii crumple to the ground as blood shot out of his mouth had been satisfying enough. No, this headache was a natural response to the anger he had felt earlier: or rather, it was a consequence of Naruto's attempts to repress that resentment.

"Winner: Sabaku no Temari!"

Naruto glanced at the smug grin adorning the blonde girl's face for only a moment before turning away and sinking back into his own thoughts.

He was brought out of them again by Hayate Gekko's thin voice, "That concludes the Preliminary rounds! All winners please make your way to the floor immediately."

"That's our cue," he heard Anko mutter.

_Thank you Kami_, he thought gratefully, but then added quickly, _or whatever deity(s) that (might) exist(s). Phew…almost became religious or somethin'. _

Satisfied with his mental gratitude towards a god (or set of gods) that might or might not have existed, Naruto waited for Anko to walk past him and then began hobbling after on his crutches. It was during the span of this walk that Naruto suddenly realized the limitations of walking down steps with crutches. This lesson was mainly learned when his crutches slipped backwards out from under him as he was traveling down the steps. He instantly tripped on the next step and began tumbling down the flight of stairs.

Every contact with a hard surface led to pain and by the time Naruto rolled to a stop just yards in front of the stunned crowd of shinobi, his entire body ached with bruises.

Planting his hands flat against the ground, Naruto pushed himself up into a kneeling position and then chanced a look at his "audience".

_So much for not holding back_, he joked mirthlessly.

"D'ya think he'll be ready for the Finals _now_," someone in the crowd muttered.

To Naruto's confusion, this elicited a string of chuckles.

"Hurry and get over here Hisomuikou," Hayate ordered suddenly.

"Y-yes, Hayate-san," Naruto muttered quickly as hurriedly scrambled (while holding his "injured" foot in the air) to get his crutches.

By the time he'd regained his metallic legs and took his place next to a very amused Anko, the Hokage had already started and finished his congratulations to them on making it to the Finals of the Exam.

Now, Hayate stepped forward once more and announced, "Your opponent for the Preliminaries will be decided via drawing. You will select one number out of the box that will be passed around. That number will have one that matches it. The person who obtains the same number as you will be your opponent. Since we have an even number of participants, all of you should receive your match. The box will be passed around now."

True to his word, Hayate retrieved a wooden box from a stand to his left and handed it to a Genin in the front row of the crowd. Thus, the box went through the entire crowd and ended with Naruto in the back. He pulled out the last numbered shogi tile and glanced at it.

"One," he muttered under his breath.

As if on cue, Hayate asked in a voice audible to all, "Contestants with the number one, raise your hands."

Naruto scanned the crowd for the other hand as he raised his own, but could not recognize who it belonged to once he saw it.

It didn't matter. Hayate called out the names anyway, "Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru versus Hyuuga Neji."

Many of the Genin cringed, sympathy for the poor and crippled Jinkoumaru readily apparent in their eyes.

Naruto assumed a horrified expression. The effect was doubled when Anko patted his back somberly.

Inwardly, however, Naruto was slightly excited. He'd never fought against a Byakugan before and he was insanely curious about how is doujutsu would react with Neji's. He would have to do some research, which for him was a very pleasurable activity.

As the numbers were asked for and the names called out, Naruto drifted away into his own inconsequential and flighty thoughts.

* * *

**A/N****: **Thus ends "Taji". It's only a filler chapter, but I had to provide some link to the one month break. The next chapter will be out fairly quickly. However, I do have a midterm next Monday, so I'll be pretty busy with studying until then and won't do a lot of writing. I'll have it up within two weeks (I want to make it a pretty in-depth chapter) and then the following chapters will detail the Finals, which, again, I'm very excited for.

On another note, I've posted three ideas for new stories on my profile. I'll only start them after the first part of _Naze? _is completed, of course. Please let me know what you think of them when you have the time.

Oramo


	11. Anshin no Hitotoki

**A/N****: **Greetings everyone. This is the eleventh chapter of _Naze? _and, being the first of the next "decade" of chapters, it will act as a bridge to a new part of my story. Many of you will define it as a filler chapter (which it is), but I feel it will mark the true beginning of my story. There have been some among who've complained about how overdue the true action of the story is and I agree with you. As a result, I will be posting this chapter and Chapter Twelve, titled "Sekkaku Sentou", at the same time. To be honest, one could probably skip over this chapter and be fine with the rest of the story. However, I personally feel that it would help you to understand the characters better if you read this section of the story. You'd also miss out on Naruto's interactions with certain characters that will play a major role later on.

I've rambled long enough. So, without further ado, I present to you Chapter Eleven of _Naze?_, titled "Anshin no Hitotoki."

Anshin no Hitotoki

Naruto threw his body across the bed and sank into its downy depths with pleasure aching gloriously throughout the entirety of his being.

"Uhhhhh," he groaned loudly, desperate to soak in every ounce of satisfaction from the mattress.

As his mind drifted off into blissful darkness, Naruto felt a weight push down on the end of his bed.

A soft, guttural growl escaped his throat.

"Pipe down midget," Anko replied, dismissing Naruto's warning easily.

"Go away," he moaned.

He suddenly felt a sharp pinch on his right heel, prompting him to moan once more.

"You are such a girl," Anko muttered in disgust. "You slept just a little bit ago! Why do you need—wait a minute. Why are you even awake at all? You were supposed to take that pill, idiot!"

Anko punched him hard in the thigh, sending waves of soreness throughout the immediate vicinity of Anko's hit.

"Why do you torment me woman?" he demanded of her desperately, burying his face further into covers and sheets as he did so.

"Because I'm restless from doin' nothing for a whole damned day! I want to do _some_thing."

Naruto sighed resignedly and then flipped over onto his back. He was greeted with the sight of a very bloody and bruised Anko grinning foxily at him.

Smirking, he remarked, "You're smilin' kinda like I used to."

Anko's grin vanished and was instantly replaced with feline curiosity.

"Whaddya mean?" she asked.

Naruto thought back to the last time he had been so incredibly ecstatic that he'd given in to his demonic companion's animalistic characteristics.

_Guess it was back when I was with Team 7_, he thought somberly. _Funny how you can't remember something as happy as grinning._

"Well?"

His eyes abruptly focused back on Anko and they found her looking quite impatient. Her pupil-less eyes, beautiful as they were exotic, were narrowed in a glare and her bottom lip stuck out ever so slightly in as petulant a pout as Naruto had ever seen.

"You look cute when you're angry," he commented suddenly.

For a moment, Naruto thought Anko was blushing. Her body froze in a manner similar to that of a certain girl. She hadn't had pupils either, but Naruto couldn't remember her name for the life of him.

In an instant, however, Anko was smirking with a mock sultriness that suited her perfectly.

"Does Naruto find his lil' Anko-chan pretty?" she teased in a fake lovey-dovey voice.

"Shut up," he replied with a chuckle.

She laughed in return and turned to look out the window. Naruto's eyes roamed over in that moment, searching for some factor that was off about her appearance. What was it—right!

"Go wash your blood off," he ordered suddenly, nudging her with his bare foot as he did so.

Anko blinked and then sniffed herself. Turning back to him, she reported mechanically, "I don't smell."

"If someone sees you laughing and giggling and—scratch the giggling part and replace it with 'laughing maniacally'—look, the point is that your covered in blood and wounds that should be hindering you a _tad_ bit more than they appear to be doing. So, go take a shower and wash up. We have some reconnaissance to do and I'd like be able to capture Gaara before the Finals."

Anko cocked an eyebrow skeptically.

"You think we'll be able to get 'em before the Finals?"

Naruto frowned, but made no response.

"That's what I thought," she replied with a sigh. "If we can't do it by the Finals, should we try on the way back? Ya know, like ambush them?"

"They're the children of the Kazekage," he retorted flatly. "Do you really think they'll travel by themselves?"

"Huh," Anko responded despondently. "Then…what the hell do we do?"

Naruto's scowl deepened as he analyzed their predicament. What _could _they do? Gaara would blow up the place with his abilities and by the time they could contain him, Konoha authorities would already be on the scene. They needed some kind of distraction. Something bigger than even a crazed Jinchuriki…

_First thing's first_, he thought calmly. _I need to get us off the suspect list if and when we take down Gaara. The Hokage pretty much told me he knew I was holding back, but I have to make sure he thinks I did so only for the Chuunin Exams. That means… _

"Hey Anko-chan," Naruto said abruptly, "who're ya facing in the Finals?"

Her gaze still looking outside, Anko replied, "Umm, some Sound chick I think. Real snotty little bitch if I remember correctly and she took _forever _to beat that Iwa nin. Why?"

"How would you like express your 'discontent' to your fullest abilities?" he inquired coyly.

Anko glanced at him, confusion laced across her brow, and asked curiously, "What do you mean?"

"You think Shinja needs a little exercise?"

Anko's eyes widened magnificently and her mouth fell open in beautiful shock.

In a voice brimming with hope, she asked, "Do…do you mean…?"

Naruto, a grin spreading across face, nodded.

"FINALLY!"

Anko leapt into the air victoriously, landed, and then sprinted to her pack. She began pulling out different items from it, each one holding a certain feature that made it excruciatingly deadly to look upon, let alone consider facing in combat.

Just as Anko unloaded a three-pronged hook that looked designed to wrap around one's thighs and impale certain biologically necessary devices, she suddenly glanced up at Naruto and asked worriedly, "But, won't going all out draw attention to ourselves?"

"I know what you mean," he replied, "but while I was talking to the Third Hokage—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," she interrupted instantly, "why the hell were you talking to the Hokage?"

"He visits participants wounded in the Exams," Naruto answered hurriedly, "but that's irrelevant. The thing is, the Hokage gave me the impression that he knew I was faking. It's safest to assume the worst and act as if he does know we were faking. Going by that logic leads us to a problem: if Gaara is successfully kidnapped, we're going to be on the suspect list. In order to combat that, we have to make Konoha think we were holding back in order to fool our opponents in the Finals, which means—"

"—we get to go all out in the Finals!"

Naruto grinned at Anko's exuberance and nodded approvingly.

"Another benefit to the plan," he continued excitedly, "is that it helps with the problem of actually capturing Gaara. Here's my thinking: Gaara seemed really attracted to Sasuke and that was probably because of Sasuke's reputation as one of the strongest Genin in the Exam. The unique chakra signature of his Sharingan might also have something to with it. This fits in with the data Zetsu-san gathered on Gaara. However, would it not be feasible to assume that Gaara would go after someone with chakra as unique and potent as Sasuke's?"

Anko grinned maliciously.

"Would that person happen to be you, my dear Naruto-kun?"

"You've read my mind dearest Anko-chan."

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was one many would consider a "genius". Some felt that that was made him such a legendarily powerful shinobi. Anyone who could achieve the rank of Jounin by age twelve surely deserved the praise of all who knew him. However, the behavior of said legendary shinobi and former ANBU was…eccentric in comparison to many of those who had received the title of genius before him.

In short, Kakashi was what one would describe as the complete antithesis of the expected personality of a person who had received the status and renown he had during his still relatively short lifetime. Lazy, chronically late, infuriatingly cheerful in dire situations, and arguably one of the most notorious "closet perverts" in Konoha, Kakashi was certainly not someone one wanted their children to look up to.

After Naruto's death, however, Kakashi had changed, growing even more somber and withdrawn than he had before. The death of a student was, the Jounin had found, just as horrible as the loss of a teammate. He could attest to this given that he had experienced both.

This time however, Kakashi had felt more hatred and fury towards himself for Naruto's death than he had for Obito's. He'd thought he'd already learned this lesson…but apparently he still had a long way to go.

When a student fails, the teacher is supposed to take the blame and do everything in their power to help them achieve their goal. That's a principle Kakashi had tried to take to heart…and Naruto had provided ample practice for it. It was almost humorous to think how many times the boy had failed and forced Kakashi to examine in what ungodly manner he'd screwed up.

Yet Naruto had, without a doubt, been the life of the team. He had been annoying, loud, obnoxious, and gave the silver-haired Jounin some of the worst headaches the man had ever been forced to endure; but, Kakashi could honestly say that he had looked forward to meeting and performing missions with his team. One never knew what Naruto would attempt to do next and it had always been entertaining to see the crazy fool challenge Sasuke to a "duel to the death for the honor of the beautiful Sakura-chan". Watching Sakura put him into a headlock and strangle him after such incidents had always given the Jounin a certain amount of pride. Not every kunoichi could pummel her male counterpart in such a gloriously comical manner and Kakashi liked to think that he'd given her the skills to do that.

Perhaps what had really made Naruto such a joy to be around, however, was the sheer amount of energy and zeal he put into everything he did. True, Kakashi had considered making Naruto a Hannin and the boy had exhibited a severe lack of self-confidence beneath a hollow mask of boisterousness for much of his time as a Genin. But in the last few months before his death, Naruto had really started coming into his own. Something had happened between Naruto and Sasuke that had spurned on the blonde-haired boy's drive. Within that last, final time together as Team 7, there were some of the most pleasant memories Kakashi had. The joy of one's students improving together at such an astonishing pace was incredible. He wondered if Minato-sensei had felt such joy…

It was the time after Naruto's death, however—after he had failed to curb the unquenchable rage within Sasuke's heart that had driven him to act so recklessly—that the darkness of failure had descended upon Kakashi once more. He had failed his teammates and now his students. For many days, Kakashi had wondered if he was doomed to fail everyone he cared about.

Sasuke, however, had provided a way out of that destructive and ultimately futile way of thinking. The raven-haired prodigy had taken complete responsibility for Naruto's death and was much the worse for bearing that terrible burden. Within his charge's eyes, however, Kakashi could see a desire akin to that which had burned deep within him after Obito had died. Sakura too held that same nameless want.

Without even realizing it, Kakashi dedicated himself to making sure his students never had to experience the pain of loss again. He would give his life to ensure that they would not fail like he had.

And so, Team 7 had remained on inactive duty for the remainder of the war. After the war's end, however, the Hokage had been forced to add a replacement to Team 7 to make a full Genin squad. While choosing someone with a personality similar to what Naruto's had been seemed like a good idea, it had actually been the worst possible decision the Hokage could have made in the short term.

Kakashi hadn't blamed the Hokage for placing Tadashii on their team. Recently promoted from Hannin and possessing a natural outgoing attitude that bore remarkable similarities to Naruto, he had seemed like a perfect fit into Team 7. That had been very, very wrong.

The moment Sakura and Sasuke had learned they would receive a new member, they had instantly refused, Sakura a little less angrily than Sasuke. Outwardly, Kakashi had ignored this and had proceeded to arrange a meeting with Tadashii. Inwardly, he had been a nervous wreck. His worst fears had conveniently turned out to be true.

As soon as Tadashii had walked around the building towards the meeting spot (Kakashi had done all in his power to avoid places where Team 7 used to hang out), Sasuke and Sakura had shot him with the deadliest glares one could imagine on the face of two nine-year-olds. Not even Tadashii's boisterousness could quell the awkward silence that had ensued for the remainder of the "get-together".

Nevertheless, the following three years had been kind to the fragile relationship between the members of Team 7. While neither Sasuke nor Sakura would probably ever consider Tadashii anything more than a companion in battle, they had come to view him as a symbol of their progress towards their goal. During missions that had the slight possibility of being life-threatening, Tadashii's survival was vital to them. The fact that he survived meant that they were getting stronger. Tadashii's survival during missions was also affected by his level of skill. Sasuke and Sakura practiced endlessly with him to ensure he didn't make a fatal mistake during the line of duty. In all honesty, it was a sensei's dream.

The only thing that tinged that dream red was Sasuke's insatiable desire to kill Itachi. While Sasuke fully admitted to being the cause of Naruto's death, it was Itachi's massacre of his Clan that had prompted him to engage in such foolhardy behavior. For Sasuke, Itachi was responsible for the destruction of all that he had held dear. That kind of rage didn't fade away easily, but Kakashi was confident he could help his student overcome it.

Now, Kakashi sat leisurely against a post atop a roof of a building reading one of his favorite volumes of Icha Icha Paradise. The beauty and majesty of Jiraiya-sama's writing made his heart - and other things - sing with delight.

Without warning an alarmingly malicious chakra signature burst into his sensory range. His one eye immediately followed the direction of the signature and eventually rested Sabaku no Gaara as the boy silently sifted through the throng of people.

Seeing the red-headed youth brought back potent images of the recording the Hokage had shown all of the Jounin on the first day of Second Exam. It was basically Gaara wrapping his around three helpless Ame nin and crushing them into bloody pieces despite their cries for mercy.

It made Kakashi wonder what the boy did during the war. Suna had done well during several major battles of the conflict. Did this kid have something to do with it?

_For another time perhaps_, he thought warily as he carefully placed his beloved book back within its pouch. _Sasuke and Sakura are probably getting restless. Don't know why, though. We've still got time to visit Tadashii and start our basic warm-ups. I'm only around two hours late after all. Still, their reactions should be interesting…and quite entertaining._

Eye smiling cheerfully, Kakashi prepared to make his leave, but stopped when he noticed a plump villager boy watching Gaara a tad bit too intently. Normally, he would have dismissed it as a child being in awe of the legendary shinobi warriors, but the kid's chakra signature stuck out like a sore thumb in his senses. It was disturbingly odd. By odd, of course, he meant nonexistent. Even the weakest non-shinobi human had some kind of chakra signature, but this kid had none whatsoever.

_It's definitely a Henge_, Kakashi thought analytically, _but I have no idea how he—or she—is concealing their chakra so thoroughly. Wait, could it be…?_

He began scrutinizing the boy's body very intensely, until his senses suddenly picked a small point of chakra on the kid's left cheek.

Eye now steely with seriousness, Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves and wind. His destination, however, was now the Hokage Tower. His team would have to wait a little while longer, but he figured they were used to that by now.

* * *

Naruto resisted the urge to poke the fat bulge that was his stomach. It just looked so weird and…plushy.

_Snap out of it Naruto_, he reprimanded. _Keep your eye on the red-headed psychopath. Actually_, he corrected mentally,_ the term "psychopath" has been discarded by many psychologists due to its negative connotation amongst the public. A more accurate description of our mass-murdering friend here would be that he has "Anti-Social Personality Disorder", among other things. Whoa, I gotta stop reading Pain's books on psychology. I might accidentally find out that _I'm _crazy. How ridiculous is that…right? _

Scowling at this, Naruto forced his gaze back onto the massive gourd of his once fellow Jinchuriki and continued following him through the crowd. Naruto wanted to observe Gaara's interactions with other people in order to validate his theory. If he was wrong, then coming to Konoha was a complete waste of time and Gaara would have to be captured at a later date. Possibly a much later date.

The gourd-bearing lad led him through the pristine and stone-paved streets of Konoha for quite a while, yet did not interact at all with the people around him. In fact, he acted as if no else existed around him. People who walked past him were like ghosts compared to his menacing presence and Gaara treated them as such. They were insignificant, inconsequential creatures worthy of nothing.

So far, Naruto's theory was confirmed. Gaara seemed to have eyes only for those who held considerable power. Now he just needed to see this type of behavior in action—

Gaara suddenly turned left down an alleyway, a major contradiction to his earlier path, which had actually seemed quite aimless. Eyes widening in alarm, the pudgy boy Naruto had Yuutai Henged* into frantically waddled after his target. By the time he veered around the corner, the only sign of Gaara that he could see was the massive gourd adorning his back.

Quickly scanning the area for any signs of ninja, Naruto took off after him. As he passed several alleyways branching off from the one he was currently running in, Naruto noticed Gaara step out and make a sharp, rather excited turn to the left. Brows furrowed in confusion, Naruto continued after him.

He turned the corner of the alleyway onto the street and found himself staring at the bathhouses.

_Wait_, Naruto thought in bewilderment, _why did Gaara come here? Is he merely wandering around? No, he actually seemed excited to get to this place. Why then?_

He gazed over the area until he spotted Gaara's gourd…and Gaara was sprinting with it towards the bathhouses. The _female_ bathhouses.

_No_, Naruto thought in disbelief, _he can't be. It's…it's just wrong!_

Naruto's amazement was answered abruptly and cruelly when the gourd Gaara was carrying was hastily set to the side, revealing…an old man.

Naruto blinked and then promptly slammed his hand into his forehead.

"Just kill me now," he muttered sadly.

The gourd the man had been carrying was massive and easily large enough to cover the long white ponytail that ran down his back. From such a long distance away, Naruto would have needed his eyes activated to notice the size difference.

_Oh well_, he thought in an obvious attempt to console himself over his failure, _at least I kinda confirmed my hypothesis. Gaara's probably long gone and I really don't feel like following him again. What to do then? That guy looks interesting. Maybe I could mess with him a little. Just to work off this repressed anger, of course._

A wickedly mischievous smile adorning his still Henged face, Naruto merrily skipped towards the section of the bathhouses the pervert was spying on and stopped just inches behind him. He examined him closely and had to admit how eccentric the man's appearance was. Dressed in red and grey attire, with a mane of hair whiter than the moon, one would have to be a fool not to notice this guy.

This only made Naruto even angrier and his thoughts all the more malevolent.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, Naruto screamed in the loudest voice he could manage, "HEY OJISAN! WHY'RE YA STARING INTO THE LADIES' BATHHOUSE? THE MEN'S ARE OVER THERE!"

The events that transpired afterwards were some of the most hilarious Naruto had seen in his entire life.

The old man, upon enduring the ear-blistering effects of his yelling, swerved around and gave Naruto the deadliest glare imaginable. With his wild appearance and furious expression, Naruto might have been cowed into retreating. The effect was ruined, however, by the arrival of a mob of very angry women.

"You'll pay for this you little brat! Mark my words, you'll pay!"

Naruto howled in laughter as the old fart frantically scrambled to escape his pursuers, who were apparently so focused on capturing their prey that they forgot their very revealing attire. Unfortunately, the perverted bastard wouldn't have a chance to see such a magnificent sight. He was too busy zipping around street corners and hollering vague obscenities whenever the women happened to corner him.

"Ah," Naruto finally declared with a pleasant sigh, "I needed that."

"Have a good time did ya?"

"Oh yeah. I mean did you see that old guy ru—"

Naruto froze mid-sentence, suddenly very aware of the shadow descending upon his fat form.

A large and worn hand collapsed upon his shoulder, nearly sending him to his knees.

"Why'd ya stop?" the voice asked wickedly. "I really wanted to hear about how the old man _lost his chance at some of the most beautiful girls this side of Fire Country!_"

Naruto creaked his head behind him and gaped horrifically at his captor. It was the old man…and he looked very, _very _pissed.

"M-maybe it wasn't that funny," Naruto offered desperately.

"Oh but it was, it _was_," the man insisted, a smile now growing terribly across his face. "But I can think of something a mite funnier. Do you know what that is?"

Naruto blanched.

"T-taking a s-small and d-d-defenseless little boy out for ramen and l-laughing about it?" he answered hopefully.

The man's face became gravely serious.

"Not even close," he uttered ominously. "But first, let's get you in your true form."

Naruto could only widen his eyes in shock as the man pinched his left cheek and gave it a hard tug.

* * *

"Sakura! Sasuke! Good of you guys to make it to see your poor, wounded teammate. It's only been, oh, a few hours since I nearly _died from chakra poisoning_!"

Tadashii scowled at them beneath his pearly white hospital sheets, indignation simmering deep within his brown eyes. The effect of this glare was accented by the cleanliness of the entire room. Sunlight streamed gently through the windows, accenting the white chairs and table positioned within Tadashii's quarters. Even the IV tube and the packet it was connected to it shimmered in the rays of the sun. Truly, one felt rested just laying eyes upon the place.

This did not stop Sakura from cringing.

"Sorry Tadashii," she muttered apologetically, "we were kind of tired from our matches, so we figured—"

"Hey, cut that out," Tadashii interjected suddenly, a worried look adorning his face. "I was only joking. I'm not _that _obnoxious, sheesh."

Sakura glared at him playfully, to which he gave a cheeky grin.

Tadashii's eyes suddenly widened in revelation of some wonderful fact and he abruptly asked them, "How'd your guys' matches go? I mean, Kakashi told me you won and all, but I wanna hear how you kicked their asses!"

Even Sasuke smirked at this, though he might have done more had the majority of his body not been covered in bandages.

"It wasn't really that amazing," Sakura replied with dismissive wave of her hand, though inwardly she was pretty pleased with her performance. The genjutsu that Kurenai-sensei had shown her months ago, _Magen: Kibaku Gotai no Jutsu_*, had played a major role in her victory. Of course, by 'shown her', Sakura meant 'memorize it after accidentally spying on Kurenai-sensei teaching it to Hinata'.

A rosy tint to her cheeks, Sakura continued, "I just used a few tricks I picked up a while ago."

"Still," Tadashii continued stubbornly, "the technique Kakashi said you used sounded pretty cool. If you weren't careful, you coulda, y'know, killed him."

Sakura blanched, as did Tadashii upon realizing what he'd just said.

"I didn't know you had it in you to be morbid, Tadashii."

Tadashii nearly fell out of his bed in fright as Kakashi-sensei popped into existence at the foot of his bed.

"Sorry I'm late," Kakashi retorted with a good-natured smile on his face. "I got lost in my quest for the meaning in our lives."

The three Genin stared at him.

"That's new," Sakura declared bluntly.

"Yeah," Kakashi replied as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "it just sorta came to me."

"Kakashi-sensei," Tadashii suddenly whined angrily, now cognizant of the shock Kakashi's abrupt image had brought upon him, "you coulda worsened my condition! Don't you have any respect for the infirm?"

"What are you getting at Tadashii?" Kakashi asked with a good-natured crinkle of the eye. "Did that kid beat you up that bad? I mean, you made Ame shinobi sound really weak awhile ago. Does that mean—"

"_Shut it sensei!_"

Tadashii fixed a murderous glare on Kakashi, though its effect was mitigated by Sakura's giggling.

"Sakura," her wounded teammate exclaimed, aghast at her mockery of his plight, "don't laugh! I may look like a hypocrite or whatever, but I mean…y'know, I was wounded and stuff and…quit it!"

Sakura couldn't stop laughing at him and it was only worsened when he crossed his arms and began pouting childishly.

"You suck," he stated despondently.

The rest of the time passed in similar fashion, with Tadashii listening attentively to Sakura and Sasuke's tales of victory and Kakashi providing succinct comments on their decisions. Tadashii especially seemed to like Sasuke's description of how he'd defeated Gouzen, though Sasuke did little to encourage to this. He spoke as little as possible during the entire time and Tadashii's jubilant exclamations every time Sasuke spoke of blow he made against the Ame nin caused the pale boy to wince in annoyance. Nevertheless, Sakura could tell that her friend was happy to see their teammate healthy and well. Overall, Sakura had enjoyed the visit.

That is, until Tadashii, as the three of them were exiting the room, suddenly demanded, "Sakura, Sasuke…if that little punk ever manages to meet you in the Finals…"

The vicious grin that adorned Tadashii's normally cheerful face made a cold pit form in Sakura's stomach, for it spoke the words that her teammate need not have said.

"They'll do their best," Kakashi responded cheerfully, saving them from the darker parts of Tadashii's 'ninja way'.

As they closed the door behind them and began exiting the building, Sakura couldn't help thinking how Naruto would have reacted if he could see his replacement act in such a manner. Her Naruto would never have held such anger and hatred within him. While Tadashii was one of the least likely of the Rookie Twelve to be the first to kill, Sakura was terribly afraid of what he would do to Jinkoumaru if he ever faced him in battle again.

* * *

_POP_

Naruto gaped in horror as his Yuutai Henge vanished with a puff of smoke.

"H-how…?"

"Who d'ya think invented that little trick?" the old man replied with thinly veiled smugness.

This did not help Naruto's amazement. In fact, it only made it grow.

Peering up and behind him at the old man, Naruto had to admit that he was one of the most exotic-looking guys he'd ever seen, save for Pain of course.

Complimenting his wild white hair were two red lines that ran from the bottom of his eyelids to the edge of his lower cheekbones. A metal horned plate with the kanji for "oil" upon it adorned his forehead and served to hold back his untamed mane. Black eyes glared menacingly down at him, but the crinkles around their edges indicated something akin to mirth.

Despite his chaotic attire and appearance, Naruto couldn't for the life of him remember who he was. He knew who the creator of the Yuutai Henge was, but that couldn't be this buffoon. Such a jutsu was far too refined for this oaf to have created.

The Yuutai Henge that Naruto was capable of producing was the ultimate disguise when invading civilian quarters, for it could interact with the physical world and still retain its form. It did have one fatal flaw, however—or rather, two.

The first was that one's chakra was completely sealed behind the fleshy mass of the Henge, thus restricting one from using chakra and preventing one from giving off a chakra signature. While this last effect would be extremely useful for sneaking up on a shinobi, it also made one stand out when walking in a crowd. In a field of lights, the one that doesn't shine is the first noticed.

This effect also made it blatantly apparent to the enemy what jutsu you were using, provided that they were aware of the jutsu's existence in the first place. If they did know, then they could utilize the jutsu's second weakness: the dispelling point. All Yuutai Henge's could be dispelled by a sharp tug or poke to a certain point on the body. The point's size depended on how skilled you were with the jutsu. Naruto's was a quarter-sized point on his left cheek. The creator of the jutsu, Jiraiya of the Sannin, was reputed to have a dispelling point too small to sense—

Suddenly, the painting of Jiraiya that had been placed next to the definition of the Yuutai Henge popped into his head.

Naruto's now revealed face paled considerably.

"D-did you s-say," he stuttered out fearfully, "t-that you c-created the jutsu?"

The old man nodded as his grin turned predatory.

"Oh dear," he managed to peep out before Jiraiya the legendary Toad Sage slammed a fist into Naruto's silver-haired head, knocking him unconscious.

* * *

Jiraiya stared intently down at the limp form next to him, fuming over the weirdness of the situation.

The Third Hokage had contacted him about some kid who may have had a connection to Minato's son. Jiraiya had been initially skeptical, especially since Minato's son was dead. The pain and sense of failure that the news of young Naruto's death had brought upon Jiraiya four years ago had all coming rushing back upon reading the Hokage's letter. Angry with his old sensei for following a fool's hope, Jiraiya had curtly, yet respectfully replied that he was too busy working on finding the numbers of the missing-nin forces mobilizing near Konoha's border to bother with a wild goose chase.

His sensei had responded with a slightly firmer message, accompanied by a squadron of ANBU. While the ANBU hadn't dared to presume they were forcibly escorting him back, their presence had symbolized the Hokage's seriousness about the matter and Jiraiya had reluctantly returned to his old village.

When he had arrived in Konoha, the Second Exam had already commenced and the boy who was the subject of interest had entered the Forest of Death. Needing to know the boy in question's name anyway, Jiraiya had met with the Third Hokage within the venerable leader's ornate office as soon as he could.

After an initially terse conversation (Jiraiya had still been stunned over his peace-loving sensei's use of force to get him to return), the Hokage had revealed the identity of the Genin in question:

_"Jiraiya," the Hokage stated, his weathered face suddenly losing the coldness that had greeted his old student, "I feel I must apologize for forcing you to come back to Konoha. Normally, I would not have paid any special attention to a child such as this, but the similarities between him and Naruto—"_

_ "Sarutobi-sensei," Jiraiya interrupted softly, "Minato's son is dead. His teammates witnessed him ignite his own clone to save them…and kill himself in the process. Not even the Kyuubi could heal that much damage. Wallowing in the past will only—"_

_ "Do you think I am unaware of that?" the Hokage demanded with a slight inflection of anger in his tone. "I've had more years than I care to remember to practice desensitizing myself to the loss of those I loved. Naruto's death was no different. As Hokage, I had to be the one to help console his teammates as they wept in agony before me! I've had to do that for _every _team for as long as I have been Hokage!"_

_ Jiraiya remained silent as he waited for his old mentor to calm down. It pained him to see his teacher so emotional. Then again, how could he not be? The son of his successor, the man who had sacrificed his life to save Konoha, was dead. Among the many failures in Jiraiya and the Third Hokage's lifetime, that certainly topped the list._

_ "Jiraiya," the Hokage began again, his voice calm once more, "the only reason I would have called you away from your duties would be if I had convincing evidence to support my hypothesis. Team 7 never actually witnessed Naruto's death."_

_ "Like it matters," Jiraiya retorted bluntly. "The report says the kid ignited a clone that was a foot awa—"_

_ "I did not allow your perusal of that document so that you could recount its details in such a cavalier manner," the Hokage interrupted darkly. "What I was going to say before your outburst was that we did manage to fortify the area near the Ame border long enough to examine the spot where the battle took place."_

_ His curiosity slightly piqued, Jiraiya asked, "How long after the battle?"_

_ "Three days," he replied seriously._

_ "What did you find?"_

_ The Hokage smiled a sad smile and answered, "The bodies of ten Kumo nin. Nothing more."_

_ Jiraiya's eyes widened noticeably._

_ The Hokage, his smile now closer to a frown, continued, "Naturally, I made every possible effort to uncover the truth behind the matter, but I obtained little useful information due to Ame's strict security measures. As a result, I was left with only two conclusions."_

_ "The Kyuubi used its power to save Naruto or Ame forces found the site just in time to kill the Kumo and bring Naruto back to Amegakure," Jiraiya stated instantly._

_ The Hokage nodded._

_ "Yes," he replied gravely, "and I can already eliminate the first possibility."_

_ Jiraiya only had to consider his sensei's words for a moment before realization dawned upon him._

_ "The wounds on the Kumo nin," the Hokage continued, "were not as…gory as one might expect from a jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. In fact, the slashes across their necks were far too precise and exact for one as unrefined as Naruto, even in a human state."_

_ The Hokage's smile suddenly contained a touch of genuine mirth, doubtless due to a certain memory of his adopted grandson._

_ "So you're convinced Ame has Naruto," Jiraiya muttered resignedly. _

_ The Hokage nodded._

_ "And you think he's here at the Chuunin Exams," Jiraiya continued even more glumly._

_ The Hokage nodded once more, a mischievous smirk adorning his old face._

_ "Why in hell would Ame send the jinchuriki that practically dropped into their lap back here?" Jiraiya queried in disbelief._

_ "An excellent question," the Hokage responded mirthfully, "and one of the reasons I discounted the idea completely when the Chuunin Exams were announced. However, recent information has led me to believe that Naruto is here in disguise. For what purpose, I cannot tell."_

_ The Toad Sennin leveled a stare at his old mentor._

_ "What 'evidence' has led you to such a wonderful conclusion, sensei?" Jiraiya asked with grim suspiciousness._

_ "The boy who has warranted my attention," the Hokage began, blatantly ignoring Jiraiya's question, "is named Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru. His physical description, as well as the hotel where he is staying, is located in the file. I would like for you to find young Jinkoumaru and talk with him."_

_ Giving the plain-looking file laying upon the Hokage's desk a cursory glance, Jiraiya asked, "You want me to ask him about Naruto? Or rather, if he _is _Naruto?"_

_ "If you so choose," the Hokage replied cheerfully. _

_ Jiraiya groaned and then responded grumpily, "Fine, fine. I'll look into this for ya, but when I find out he's got nothing to do with anything you're talking about—and I say 'when' because there's no way in hell you're right—I expect ample payment."_

_ The Hokage's face suddenly became grim._

_ "Same as always then," he asked apprehensively._

_ Eyes suddenly gleaming with excitement, Jiraiya replied happily, "Yep!"_

_ The Hokage sighed wearily and muttered, "I better give the guards to the bathhouses your description so they'll let you in. Hopefully none of the kunoichi hear of this…or I'll have to name a successor as soon as possible."_

Thus, Jiraiya had spent the next week snooping around Konoha in search of clues about his target. By 'snooping around Konoha', he meant 'take a glance or two at the boy's apartment and then go to the bathhouses to scope out a spot to peep on women'. Kakashi had found him some time later and informed him of a boy using a Yuutai Henge. Interested, Jiraiya began searching the streets of Konoha for the boy...until he stopped for a break.

And that was how Jiraiya had actually run into Jinkoumaru. Right as the brat had given him away to the women in the bathhouses (and how marvelous they had been) and when Jiraiya had swerved around to confront him, the boy's distinct lack of chakra signature had given his jutsu away. After having dispelled the Yuutai Henge and seeing the boy's true form, Jiraiya had knocked him out (with no small amount of joy) and whisked him away to an alley in one of the poorer districts of Konoha.

Currently, he stared down at the boy's slumbering form in complete confusion. The boy's appearance—silver hair and pale skin—had been a sharp contrast to Uzumaki Naruto's and Jiraiya had assumed, in the case that Jinkoumaru was actually Naruto, that it was a simple Henge. However, when he punched the lad in the head, his appearance had remained the same.

Clucking his tongue, Jiraiya extended a calloused thumb to the kid's right eyelid and cautiously lifted it up. He was met with a bright blue iris that reflected even the dim light of the dank area like a star.

_Blue?_ Jiraiya wondered confusedly. _I thought the kid's eyes were red. _

He removed his thumb and let the eyelid fall over its charge once more.

_Naruto's eyes were blue_, Jiraiya mused thoughtfully, _but that's about it. There's only one person I know of who has a Henge technique capable of holding under force and she'd never show it to anybody. Then again, this kid did figure out the Yuutai…does he have another Yuutai on?_

Jiraiya reached out with his senses in an attempt to find another dispelling point, but his hopes were dashed when he felt the boy's chakra signature meet him in an exuberant rush.

_Nope_, he thought with a smidgeon of disappointment, _not a Yuutai. Either this kid has figured out my colleague's one of a kind jutsu which takes a shitload more chakra control than anything I could ever come up with or he actually looks like this. But what about his eyes? Sarutobi-sensei said Naruto had the same eyes as Minato and that hue of blue was unmistakable…just like this kid's. _

"You're givin' me a headache ya brat," he muttered begrudgingly as he easily hoisted the slight boy onto his shoulders, "but my geezer of a sensei thinks you know something about a kid who means a lot to him…and me. So, what do we do now? I obviously can't talk to you like this and I need to report these findings to the Hokage before I make my next move. What to do, what to do…"

Jiraiya had to think for only a moment before a very wicked smile graced his boisterous features.

* * *

_A massive toad squatted above, bulging eyes gazing down upon him indifferently. The sky was cloudy and the area muddy. Rain poured down upon the entirety of the bleak landscape, drowning everything in magnificent thunder. But he only felt this, for all he could see was the great toad in front of him. They looked into each other's eyes for eternity…endlessly they stared until all they knew were themselves. Suddenly the toad opened its mouth and unleashed a terrifyingly long tongue. He was being dragged toward the toad's mouth, a chasm of endless darkness that promised only the frightening unknown. Naruto's fear grew and grew and grew…he wouldn't—no, he couldn't fall into that great hole, but he couldn't stop either. Nothing kept him safe. He was all alone, doomed to continue falling…falling…falling…MINE!_

Naruto jerked up with a start, his mouth agape in a soundless scream.

"Agh…" he finally gasped out, before falling back against that which he rested upon.

He lay there panting for several moments, mind frantically racing with fearful thoughts and irrational terrors.

Eventually, he gathered the courage to open his eyes and confront the outside world. For one horrifying moment, he feared the toad would be there to greet him and drag him into its awful gullet.

His fears were unfounded it seemed, for all that greeted him was the beautifully blue sky of Konoha. Wisps of clouds leisurely floated through its azure depths, dispelling his fears with a calm and beautiful stroke.

Naruto sighed in relief and made to stand up. He could not.

Stunned, he glanced around him in a desperate attempt to ascertain his current predicament. He could only gape when found himself wrapped from neck to toe in tape. The tape extended farther behind him and wrapped around some circular object that was possibly a chimney.

Naruto blinked and then looked at the area surrounding him.

"Ah hell," he muttered despondently.

He was on the roof of a building in the middle of Konoha that was overshadowed by a rather large sign bearing the words "BEWARE YE PERVERTS FOR THIS IS THINE FATE".

It hung precariously above him on a rope that was connected to the chimney he was tied to. Its bold red letters seemed to have attracted the attention of quite a large flock of villagers, many of whom seemed very perturbed by the sight.

Naruto didn't even have to wonder over who'd done this to him.

_That guy's dead_, he thought murderously as he reveled in the all of the glorious methods of torture he had in mind.

It was at that point, however, that he remembered his tormentor's identity.

_Jiraiya of the Sannin_, he mused to himself, his rage temporarily forgotten. _Could that really have been him? But none of my books mentioned anything about such perversion and lechery. Then again, he did know about the Yuutai Henge and its dispelling point. He looked old enough as well, so maybe it really was him. But then again, wouldn't he have done more to me if he knew that I could use one of his jutsu? I mean, the Yuutai Henge isn't the most common of ninja arts. I'll have to be even more careful then. Still, I can work around it…or I _will _once I get out of these damnable knots._

Naruto prepared to summon a clone to break him out, but realized with a shock that he couldn't see any _issui_.

"Oops," he muttered sheepishly.

His eyes were bloody crimson within moments and the wisps of light reappeared once again, dancing for him beautifully as they always did. The distinct lack of an abundance of _issui _around his skin, however, set his senses on alert.

Naruto deactivated his eyes and looked at first his skin, then his hair. The first was gradually becoming tanner, while the second was regaining its radiant blonde sheen. It wasn't noticeable at a distance, but the light blonde flecks starring to appear throughout his hair would soon become too blatant to ignore.

Reactivating his eyes, Naruto muttered, "_Henge no Jutsu!_"

His body once again resumed its disguise without even the slightest hint of smoke (extra care was needed given the sizeable number of witnesses below him) and the _issui _wrapped him like a protective, radiant shield.

His worries assuaged and his dampened spirits raised a bit by the sight of the _issui_, Naruto casually formed a clone, let it cut the tape off of him with a kunai, dispelled it, and then disappeared in a whirl of wind. The crowd below could only stare on in wonder.

* * *

_One Week Later_

"_Keep your eyes down!_"

Yugito quickly bowed her head down in apology, her young face a piteous contortion of shame and fear.

"My deepest apologies sempai," she muttered hurriedly, careful to keep her head at the waist level of her Jounin squad leader. Her odd-colored eyes, one golden and one green, she kept hidden from curious onlookers like a bashful child.

It took several moments for the pain to fade from her eyes and their color return to normal. She sighed in relief, but did not raise herself to a standing position for fear that _it _would start acting up again.

"Aw come on sensei," her fair-skinned teammate demanded loudly, "why ya gotta be so mean all the time?"

"You know exactly why, Ikazuchi," her sensei responded furiously. "If anybody found out about her condition—"

"So?"

Yugito smirked beneath the elegant strands of the beautiful blond hair that cascaded gently over her face. Leave it to Kaida to question their sensei.

"What do you mean 'so'?"

"I _mean_," Kaida uttered angrily, "why do we care if they know? They'll just fear us all the more…and I'd like to see those Suna punks quiver a bit."

Yugito saw a wicked gleam come to Kaida's jade green gaze out of the corner of her own eyes and it sent shivers down her spine.

"You're a fool Kaida," her sensei exclaimed disdainfully. "Why would we risk our only—you can stop bowing now Yugito, for Heaven's sake—our only _weapon_ by letting our former sworn enemies know she's here? If anyone who knows of the Nibi's last recorded position—which happened to be Kumogakure in case you'd _forgotten_—and sees Yugito's eyes are the same odd colors as its own, they'll report it to their leaders."

"Why'd she come then Kizoku-sensei," Ikazuchi asked in genuine curiosity, all the while sending sympathetic glances Yugito's way.

For once, their erudite sensei had no immediate response. This caused his charges to immediately question the logic behind his argument.

Before they could configure the thoughts within their minds, however, Kizoku-sensei answered somberly, "Raikage-sama probably wishes to use the Exams as a way to test Yugito-san's power without using…you know."

The Genin immediately fell silent, their thoughts now a melancholy pond amidst the dark cavern of their minds.

Yugito's teammates and sensei knew all too well of her burden, as did almost every shinobi and adult citizen in Kumo. They had seen the way people treated her and had become her staunchest allies when she was faced with the stigma that had weighed her down for the entirety of her young life. The love for them that was aroused within Yugito because of their kindness was too strong to describe. It was why she wasn't saddened by Kizoku-sensei's harsh words. He was terrified that Konoha would found out about her and seek to kidnap her for their own nefarious gains.

Kizoku-sensei's expression softened noticeably and he abruptly announced, "Perhaps a treat's in order. After all, two of _my _Genin did make it to the first Chuunin Exam finals since the Great War's beginning in enemy territory!"

The eyes of the Genin in question bulged magnificently as they pictured the sumptuous feast that awaited them.

"All right," Ikazuchi exclaimed happily, "food!"

Kaida smirked at him smugly and interjected, "I don't think you get any Ikazuchi. You didn't even win your match."

"B-but—"

"Kaida's right Ika," Kizoku-sensei agreed with a playful wink, "you haven't really done anything to deserve a reward."

Ikazuchi stared at them desperately, his big brown eyes glowing with frantic hope. This expression quickly changed to indignant fury when his three comrades burst into uproarious laughter.

"You guys are terrible," he exclaimed with a huff. "I was really believin' ya there."

"You don't think we'd actually let you starve," Kizoku-sensei asked mirthfully as his and Kaida's laughter gradually died away into small chuckles.

Ikazuchi averted his eyes sheepishly and replied, "Nah. I guess I'm just kinda embarrassed that I was the only one to lose. My mom's gonna kill me when she finds out."

He shook involuntarily, as if some terrifying force stood before him.

"Don't fret Ika," Kaida said reassuringly, "you'll get there one day…or months since the Exams aren't held for another half-year. And then ya have to get past hundreds of contestants who'll make your death their top priority and _then_—"

"Thanks Kaidy," Ikazuchi interrupted sourly, "you're a peach."

"But seriously Ikazuchi," Yugito asked worriedly, "are you sure you're okay with a celebration? I mean, you got pretty banged up in your match and your arm still isn't functioning at full capacity, so you might want to—"

Ikazuchi dismissed her with a casual and cheerful wave of his hand and replied, "I'll be fine Yugito. It's not _that _big a deal. I mean, I can just do it again later. Besides, I'm really hungry, so let's eat!"

Yugito and Kaida, seeing their friend was okay with the celebration, heartily agreed, while Kizoku-sensei merely smirked and shook his head hopelessly.

"All right," their leader consented, "we'll _all _go out. There's this really nice steak shop on street outside our hotel. You guy's wanna go there?"

The trio nodded emphatically and prepared to head off.

Suddenly, her eyes burst into fiery, pulsating pain. Yugito, long practiced in enduring the malicious tendencies of her jailed demon, merely shut her eyes and waited for the throbbing to cease.

She was fully prepared for the sight that greeted her when she opened her eyes anew. Everything was now as vibrant as the radiant sun which hung overhead. Colors and people all glowed with life, illuminating the world around them magnificently.

Yugito sighed and began turning her eyes to the ground. If anybody saw the eyes—especially someone from Konoha or Suna—when it was apparent that she had once had a different and normal iris color, she had little doubt that a great deal of trouble would arise.

Why did the Nibi put her through such humiliation? Did it somehow know of the shame she felt as she was forced to bow her hand like some worthless slave?

Just as her eyes began to close, a light, more glorious and powerful than any she'd ever seen before, burst into view. There was nothing in heaven or hell that could prevent Yugito's eyes from snapping onto the source of that incredible radiance. When they did, all that she could do was gape in awe.

A boy with long and silky golden hair, his build slight and his skin pale, leaned gracefully against a wall. His eyes were closed, signifying that he was deep in thought. Yet it was not his appearance that captivated Yugito. It was the heavenly aura that spread about and around him like the sun, dwarfing all other lights in its presence.

Among all the thoughts that swarmed Yugito's mind in that instant, there was one that stood out among all the rest: _He's…he's beautiful…_

The boy's eyes abruptly snapped open, revealing two crimson orbs whose depth was so great that they seemed like twin pools of blood. They immediately locked onto her. To Yugito, it appeared as if the boy was surprised by her scrutiny and somehow…grateful for it. He raised his hand and gave her a small, pleasant wave.

If she hadn't been so enraptured by his appearance, Yugito might've laughed at such a human and emotional gesture coming from someone as divine-looking as him. Nevertheless, she quickly returned it so as not to offend this heavenly being.

As if in response to her thought that the boy was 'divine' and 'heavenly', the pressure in Yugito's eyes abruptly vanished and with it went the radiance of the lights, including those of the boy. Yugito nearly cried out in anguish as the boy's beauty disappeared in one horrible moment.

But, her grief was replaced by surprise when she found him to be just as ethereal as before. His hair was now a silver mane that fell roughly onto his shoulders. His skin and body remained the same and his eyes still burned bloody red, yet the absence of the light surrounding the boy gave him a more approachable—a more human—feel.

The boy's stare suddenly became very intense and he stood up sharply as if something had struck him. Before Yugito could do anything more than to begin to gape, the boy was gone, vanished into the wind.

With both the power of the boy's light and the abruptness of his departure still heavy in her mind, Yugito reluctantly headed off after her teammates. She completely forgot that the Nibi's eyes had been exposed for all to see.

* * *

Anko tapped her foot impatiently as she leaned against the window frame, her face set into a frustrated scowl. She hated it when Naruto kept her waiting.

_Idiot_, Anko thought scornfully, _making me worry like a fool._

In her opinion, Anko had every reason to feel anxious about her beloved companion. It had been a week since he'd stormed through the window and under his bed sheets to pout about some 'old pervert'. It was only later that Naruto revealed the identity of the peeping tom in question: Jiraiya, legendary Toad Sage and member of the Sannin.

To learn that Naruto had pissed off a Kage-class shinobi was not what Anko had wanted to hear and she let the poor boy know it…violently.

Despite the very real temptation to continue her torture ceremony by sticking her knives in a very particular spot on Naruto's body, Anko had resisted and forced herself to be comfortable with the idea of Naruto continuing his daily scouting trips. While what the Sannin could have done (and might still do) to the kid was cause for great worry, Anko understood better than anyone Naruto's perfectionism when it came to a mission. He would have memorized the entirety of Gaara's hideout even if she told him he couldn't. Why deny the reality of situation by resisting it?

Despite Naruto's zeal for the task, the data he had collected on Gaara had been boring, to say the least. 'Standing on a rooftop and gazing down into crowds like they were very scrumptious mice' had been the psychotic boy's most popular activity, right ahead of 'glaring murderously at anyone who happened to glance his way'.

It's not that Anko didn't respect the Jinchuriki's talent for intimidation. He'd made _her_ as terrified as a kitten during the first few moments she'd seen him in action. After the dehumanizing effects of her memories of Orochimaru had kicked in, however, the effect had faded rather quickly.

_We've got three weeks of this same shit left_, she thought with a bored sigh, _and it's driving me crazy._

Out of nowhere, a loud whooshing sound burst into Anko's ear, alerting her to an incredibly small vortex of wind.

"Took you long enough," she muttered angrily, hiding her shock well as Naruto swirled into existence beside her, his hair elegantly swaying across his face with the last remaining vestiges of the vortex.

"Sorry," he muttered hurriedly, his eyes glazed over in distracted thought. "I stopped for a bit while scoping out the district where Gaara lives. But that doesn't matter right now."

At this last statement, Naruto waved his hand flippantly, as if dismissing Anko's anger completely. Had Anko not understood Naruto's disregard for others whenever he happened upon an intriguing concept, she would have found the gesture extremely arrogant.

"I think I've found something big," he continued excitedly, now fixing his eyes upon her. "There was this girl in the street who had these weird eyes—"

"Wait," Anko interrupted abruptly, her thoughts suddenly consumed with suspicion and anger, "what girl?"

Naruto barely spared her a glance.

"I don't know," he muttered distractedly as he began struggling with the buttons on his coat. "I just happened to see her looking at me a couple yards away."

When Naruto's efforts started to appear futile, Anko kindly slapped his hand away and began doing it for him. Naruto glared at her, but did not stop her.

"As I was saying," he continued in a slightly disgruntled voice, "_she_ was staring at _me_ with the weirdest expression on her face."

"What kind of an expression?" Anko asked curiously, her hands nimbly sliding the buttons through the holes and out into the open.

"I don't know how to describe it," Naruto replied in a distant tone of voice. "Stunned? Awed, maybe?"

Anko snorted.

"Awed," she asked in disbelief, "by you?"

"Shut up," Naruto responded indignantly. "She was staring at me for _some _reason. Whatever it was doesn't matter. What does matter is what she was looking at me _with_."

"Her eyes?" Anko suggested innocently.

"Exactly!"

"What about 'em?" she asked in a bored sort of way as she slipped the last button of Naruto's coat out of its hole.

As Naruto began to clumsily shed his coat, he continued, "Her eyes were two different colors! One was green and the other was—"

"Amber?"

Naruto nodded happily, though his expression turned to one of mild annoyance when his arms became stuck in the one sleeve of his coat.

"How the hell did you get your arms stuck in a sleeveless jacket," Anko asked incredulously, temporarily forgetting the revelation of the nameless girl's eye color.

"Not sleeveless," Naruto corrected cheerfully. "There's a half-sleeve on the left si—oh dear."

Naruto's right foot became entangled with his left and, with a rather acrobatic twist, he collapsed onto the ground.

Anko shook her head in mock exasperation as a chuckle escaped from her mouth.

"I don't find this humorous," Naruto remarked quietly as he fidgeted beneath his coat.

Smirking, she extended a hand to her downed partner and heaved him into the air. She then proceeded to remove the coat for him, which only served to elicit a glare similar to the one he had sent her when she'd undone his buttons.

When Naruto's skinny chest was exposed to the air and his coat lay in a heap on at the foot of his bed, he renewed his report by saying, "She had heterochromia and she had a Kumo hitai-ate. What else had two different colored eyes and was last reported to be in Kumo?"

Anko's eyes widened dramatically.

"The Nibi no Bakeneko," she stated, stunned at the prospect of their being two Jinchuriki in Konoha.

Naruto nodded, a smirk decorating his face as he noticed her amazement. The smirk, however, quickly turned into a frown.

"Yep," he replied, his voice surprisingly glum, "and we can't do a damn thing."

"What the hell do you mean?" Anko demanded of him angrily. "We have two freakin' Jinchuriki right here and we can get 'em in one fell swoop!"

Anko nearly flinched when Naruto stared at her as if she'd said something stupid.

"Do you _really _want to take on two Jinchuriki?" he asked her incredulously.

"Why not?" Anko countered, determined to defend her argument. "You had the Kyuubi, so couldn't you—"

"The operative word," Naruto interrupted in an annoyed voice, "is 'had'. I'm not a Jinchuriki anymore Anko, which means no demonic 'gifts'. The only things I got from the Kyuubi were these."

He pointed to his eyes and flashed them between their actual azure hue and the crimson taint of his Kekkei Genkai in rapid succession.

"That may be enough to take down one of them—and I stress 'may'—," he continued, "but definitely not two. Besides, Zetsu-san said that the Hachibi Jinchuriki—Kirabi, I think his name was—received special training on learning how to control his Bijuu. I doubt this girl hasn't received the same. That, coupled with the fact that the Nibi is one tail greater than the Ichibi, makes her far more dangerous to confront."

Anko opened her mouth to retort, but could think of nothing to say. Naruto was right. They simply didn't have the power to take on multiple Jinchuriki and escape back to Ame in one piece. In fact, they wouldn't even make it back to Ame. The Five Nations would be on them within seconds and that was obviously a no-no.

"Fine," she finally conceded with a sigh, "but I don't like the idea of just ignoring such a golden opportunity. When will we ever get a chance to capture her again?"

With surprising quickness, Naruto replied, "Don't worry about that. We'll get another chance at her soon enough. Yugito isn't the child of a Kage and she isn't the only Jinchuriki Kumo has."

"Don't the reports say that Suna's populace hates Gaara?" Anko asked, suddenly finding another ray of light for her argument. She really wanted to attack this Yugito character. The idea of her staring at Naruto made Anko feel…weird.

"It can't be bad enough that they'd want to get rid of their only Bijuu," Naruto countered easily as he began to look around the room for a shirt.

"He's psychotic," she contradicted bluntly. "You saw the way he was looking at the Uchiha. It was almost as if he…I don't know, _needed _to kill him."

She forced herself to ignore the momentary flinch that froze Naruto's frame and quickly glanced out the window.

"First off," he replied lightheartedly, obviously determined to rid the atmosphere of negativity, "terms such as 'psychotic' and 'psychopath' are psychologically outdated. Haven't I said that before—never mind. Gaara's psychosis is a result of having a foreign entity—a Demonic Lord, to be precise—shoved into his body as an infant with a very poor seal to hold it in. The seal that was used on me was much stronger and kept the Kyuubi's dark whisperings out of my head."

"Actually," he suddenly corrected, a thoughtful look coming to his face, "after talking with the old fox, I wouldn't have minded him being in my head. He suggested some fascinating things and all this nonsense about the Bijuu being 'evil' or whatnot is really quite false. Did I tell you about—"

"Naruto," Anko cut in sharply, a very familiar sort of headache beginning to blossom within her skull, "stay on track."

"Sorry," he responded quickly, an apologetic look washing over his face abashedly. "I guess what I was trying to get at is that Gaara's apparent insanity isn't really that bad and the villager's reactions to him are like those of any other village when reacting to a Jinchuriki. They'll hate him, fear him, and possibly even wish him dead, but they would never allow another shinobi country to claim them. However ignorant Suna's populace might seem when they react in such a bigoted manner, the citizens of said ninja village are well aware of the power Gaara holds within him. When added to Suna's recent economic troubles, they'll protect their little sand demon for as long as they can. And in return, he may not kill as many of them when he defends the village from attacks. That's his purpose after all…to _them_ at least."

Anko did not miss the bitterness that flashed through Naruto's eyes at the end of his explanation, but she dismissed it when he began speaking once more.

"On the other hand," he continued, "the Nibi Jinchuriki is from a village that already has a powerful demon host under their relative control. This makes her all the more expendable in their eyes. Why waste precious resources on a weaker version of the weapon you already have? I'm sure Kumo will attempt to keep this girl safe, of course, but they won't try nearly as hard as the desperate shinobi of Suna. This means that capturing the girl in the future will be much easier than capturing Gaara later on would be. Because of this, we'll continue as we have been. That doesn't mean, however, that we can't spy on the poor lass. It'll pay to know as much about her as possible. Is that all right with you?"

She grinned and nodded in response. Leave it to Naruto to iron out every little detail to perfection...when he put his mind to it, that is.

"Good," Naruto replied happily, "then we'll start sending Karasuhebi—hah!"

Naruto suddenly pointed an accusatory finger at an amorphous mass of clothes lying at the foot of his bed. A faded black shirt poking out of the pile seemed to be the object of Naruto's attention, for he shouted victoriously, "There you are nefarious shirt, which hides from mine view so deviously! Thou thinkest itself clever, but I have triu—_oomphed_."

A pillow sailing through the air courtesy of Anko collided into Naruto's face, effectively ending his diatribe.

"Put the damn shirt on so we can go visit that idiot in the hospital," Anko said in an annoyed tone of voice.

In a quieter, more respectful manner, she added, "I hope he's doin' okay."

Naruto did not miss this and was annoyingly quick to remark, "Does Anko-chan miss her beloved Gouzen-kun?"

Anko, her mouth twitching upwards ever so slightly, replied dreamily, "Why yes, I think I do. His presence…it lingers in my heart like…like—"

"The last petals of a sakura tree upon the freezing ground before the cold touches of winter," Naruto suggested helpfully.

She nodded and, in unison, they both declared happily, "Ah…the beauty of love."

They both chuckled and set about getting ready to leave for the hospital. They'd only visited Gouzen once during the week and Anko felt their teammate deserved some of their attention. He was, after all, embarking upon one of the greatest missions that he'd ever take on in his life.

* * *

_Three Weeks Later_

Their visit to see Gouzen had been very enjoyable for Naruto. He had actually been quite cheerful about his loss, even going so far as to claim that he'd use it to spur himself to train harder. Naruto's opinion of Gouzen had gone up quite a bit upon hearing this and he had told Gouzen that he would be more than happy to help him in his training.

After around another hour of chatting, Anko and Naruto had left and returned to their room. They had then spent the rest of the night reviewing the information they had on Gaara. Naruto had also created a schedule for both him and Anko to follow for the remaining three weeks before the Finals. Basically, the plan had involved several of Anko's scout snakes searching for the residency of the Nibi Jinchuriki while both Anko and Naruto would take turns spying on Gaara for any possible chances to capture him.

Surprisingly, the plan had worked quite well. The snakes had found the Nibi Jinchuriki's place of residence, which allowed them to learn her name: Nii Yugito. Upon learning this, Naruto had had Anko dispel five of the ten snakes she had summoned in order to lessen the likelihood that one of them was discovered. The remaining five had kept watch on the Kumo squad in case they revealed further information and so far, the reptiles had done their job admirably.

Tracking and spying on Gaara had also been relatively easy. The Konoha Chuunin that patrolled the area seemed wary of the boy, so Naruto and Anko had had little trouble in following him as he skulked his way around Konoha. It had paid off too.

Tailing Gaara had shown both Naruto and Anko a solitary spot where they could capture Gaara and take him back to Ame with little fuss. The deranged lad had inadvertently led them to an area on the outskirts of Konoha where only the poor and unwanted lived. The perfection of the spot had convinced Naruto to form his plan around it. Since Gaara came here every day, why wouldn't Naruto use it to its full potential?

Despite how conducive the area was to completing Naruto's plan, however, it sent chills down his spine just thinking about how similar the denizens of that wretched place were to him when he was growing up in the "legendary" Hidden Leaf Village.

For that reason, Naruto had thought Gaara's reasons for coming to this place were possibly…benign. After all, Gaara's childhood had probably born striking similarities to Naruto's. Perhaps, like Naruto, Gaara had recognized to the pain that oozed out of the bleak and watery eyes of these destitute citizens and had come to this place to reflect.

As Naruto had soon discovered, however, Gaara's motives were far more sinister.

Apparently, Gaara had a craving for killing. The reason Gaara came to this dejected area of Konoha was to wrap his blood-stained sand around some hapless beggar's body and crush it into a dripping pulp. Who would have noticed the disappearance of someone as ignoble as _that _in a city as large as Konoha?

Naruto had refused to equate such sadistic desires with his own "habits", but found that it was nearly impossible. The resemblance was too vivid to ignore. Nevertheless, Naruto had forced himself to ignore such thoughts and had continued his daily routine of spying.

Anko had also seemed to be affected by Gaara's little ritual, though Naruto suspected it had not been the sight of Gaara mercilessly killing civilians. Instead, she had most likely been thinking of Naruto and how what he did was nearly the exact same thing: an addiction.

Suddenly, pain blossomed within Naruto's skull like a fiery explosion. His hand snapped to his head and clawed at it relentlessly.

The explosion became an ocean, beating against the sides of his head with the same eternal power and ruthlessness as the sea.

_Thrum…thrum…thrum…_

"Please stop," he whispered to himself, his voice nothing more than the pleading tone of a child.

The headache was as merciless as a hurricane, for it continued to beat against his skull with the same horrible thoroughness as it had always done.

The book he'd been reading fell out of his hand and clattered to the floor, leaving Naruto's other hand to mirror its twin and clamp down on his head.

"W-why," he gasped out, oblivious to the desperate tears beginning to fall out of his eyes, "w-why don't I _stop_?"

_Because I want blood…_

Naruto's entire body—his entire essence—froze like a hammer in mid swing.

Helplessly, hopelessly, Naruto called out, "W-who's there?"

There was no answer. The entire room seemed to have gone silent, as if in sad respect of his horrible plight.

In this terrible silence Naruto's mind floated, like a boat in the eye of hurricane. Thoughts gruesome and horrific ran through his mind like a carnival slide show.

Was he going insane? Was the voice some other personality borne out of his own fragile mind?

The hammer that had been Naruto's being suddenly crashed to the ground and realization dawned upon him in the most dreadful manner imaginable.

"It wasn't another voice," he murmured softly to himself. "It was me…answering my own question."

The light of Naruto's azure eyes became dimmed with the color of crimson and his head gently slumped forward in blissful sleep.

_Why don't I stop?_

_Because I want blood…_

_

* * *

_

_Hokage Tower: Midnight_

"When will you do it," the Hokage asked in a voice as serious as death.

Jiraiya sighed and replied somberly, "After the Finals. I want to be sure before…"

He let his voice trail off, but the Hokage knew what he was referring to.

"So be it," the wizened leader proclaimed in a cold and distant voice ill-suited to his personality.

In a quieter and warmer voice, the Hokage added, "Please be ready for him Jiraiya. I have already failed him once. I cannot bear to do it again."

"We all failed him," Jiraiya replied sadly, "and so it's our duty to ensure that failure doesn't destroy the future of Konoha."

Jiraiya glanced at his old sensei and, with a smirk adorning his face that elicited ancient memories of a boisterous and energetic young child, said, "Wish me luck…Sarutobi-sensei."

The Toad Sennin disappeared in a whirl, leaving the Hokage alone in the dark.

* * *

**A/N****: **I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. Please review and comment as much as you can. I am eager to hear your opinions on my story.

Oramo

Yuutai Henge: "Corporeal Apparition"—Explanation later on in the story. A more advanced form has been suggested, but Naruto has only found hints of it in his readings.

_Magen: Kibaku Gotai no Jutsu_: "Demonic Illusion: Exploding Limbs Jutsu"—This is basically a homage to how Zaku got defeated in canon. For those who don't know, Zaku faced Shino in combat and tried to use his ability to blast waves of sound out of tubes implanted into his arms. In response, Shino secretly put his kikai bugs into the tubes and attempted to block them. Zaku used his ability, the bugs blocked the passage, and Zaku's arms…exploded. Yeah, that kinda put a damper on his ninja career. Fortunately for our tough as nails Sound nin, Sakura's genjutsu merely simulates the act of someone's limbs exploding, so he merely went unconscious, albeit in shock. Unfortunately, Zaku is about to be a very integral part in Orochimaru's plans. I don't want to ruin it for those of you who don't know what part Zaku actually plays, but I'm pretty sure all of you remember. Can't hurt to be cautious, though. As for the translation, I'm not really sure if "Magen" means "Demonic Illusion", but I've seen it used in stories before and I'm going to assume it's correct. Feel free to critique me on the translation if you know it's wrong. Now I bet you're wondering why you read an entire paragraph about a jutsu that'll probably never be in the story again. So am I.


	12. Sekkaku Sentou

**A/N****: **The second of the two-chapter installment to my story. The Finals finally begin and Naruto must clash with the prodigy of the renowned Hyuuga Clan, Hyuuga Neji. I have been waiting a long time to write this arc of the story and I hope this chapter comes out in the best possible way.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter Twelve of _Naze?_, titled "Sekkaku Sentou".

_Sekkaku Sentou_

_Anko…please help me. Don't let me kill…don't let me hate…don't let me bathe in their blood…_

Anko's head snapped up with such force that she nearly slammed it into the wall behind her.

_Was that Naruto?_ she questioned mentally, oblivious to how close she'd just come to a concussion.

Glancing to her right, she frantically ran her eyes over the bed in search for the source of Naruto's pain. All she found was her friend sleeping peacefully underneath the sheets she'd laid across him when she found his tired form sitting upright against the head of the bed last night.

She let out a relieved sigh, but nevertheless walked over to the side of Naruto's bed to check up on him. Anko passed a tender hand through the silver locks that fell across his face.

"If that was you Naruto," she whispered somberly, "the only thing that I can say is that you _must _kill and you _must _hate."

Anko avoided saying the final part of the desperate plea that had run through her mind. Her gut twisted merely at the thought of the heart-rending request.

Instead, she said, "You won't survive if you're compassionate. If you were hurt or killed…You must hate, Naruto and I'll be right there beside you to help bear that hatred."

Anko smiled mirthlessly and then slipped into her own bed. They had to do battle in a matter of hours and it wouldn't do for her to be too tired to enjoy watching Naruto kick that Neji's ass.

_To watch him bathe in their blood…_

Anko stared into one of her pillows that had been tossed casually onto the other side of her bed.

_Yes_, she thought sadly, _I will. And he'll watch me do the same. We already enjoy it. I just hope that it doesn't consume us…_

_

* * *

_

"Come, one and all, to see the great talents of Konoha do battle with the best the other Nations have to offer! You won't be disappointed, I assure you! Uchiha Sasuke, last of the mighty Uchiha Clan and wielder of the legendary Sharingan, and Hyuuga Neji, prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan and bearer of one of the most powerful Byakugan in years, are here to show the world the might and glory of Konoha!"

The insanely large number of people filling the streets to gain entrance to the massive arena suddenly shouted in a booming chorus of roaring cheers in answer to the herald's speech. Combined with the blinding light reflecting off the white pillars of the arena, it gave Naruto a rather annoying headache.

Compared to the headache he had last night, however, this was nothing.

At the thought of the past evening, Naruto cringed. He would have died a thousand times to have that one thought in his head be the wicked scheme of the foulest spirit in Hell rather than a product of his own mind.

But despite that, a part of him, as much as he regretted to even think it, agreed with the voice. The thought of the blood of his enemies spilling onto the ground was so…_satisfying_. The root of this incredible sensation was not, however, simple blood lust. It was the satisfaction of proving to the mighty Konoha just how far he'd come. He was glad his and Anko's plans allowed the two of them to go all out, because otherwise he had no idea what he would've done.

As Naruto struggled to endure the overwhelming noise of the heralds, merchants, messengers, and screaming fans, he felt his will begin crumble.

Murderous thoughts slowly started seeping into his head.

_No_, he told himself firmly, _not murder. I can't kill…I can't kill…I can't kill…_

"_Naruto!_"

He glanced sharply to his right at the sound of the whisper and found Anko staring concernedly down at him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, worry bleeding out of her voice.

Naruto, initially annoyed at the attention, suddenly noticed the understanding look in Anko's eyes. It wasn't forced or put on. She genuinely understood the turmoil that was his mind.

"I'm fine," he proclaimed in what he hoped was a cheerful manner. Softly, he muttered, "But thanks."

Anko smirked at him and the two renewed their trek through the crowd.

Naruto and Anko finally reached the entrance to the arena and found a small path cleared through the crowd by two imposing rows of samurai on each side. In the middle of the path was a single, incredibly large man in samurai armor. As Naruto and Anko stepped into the clearing that the crowd surrounded, the man strode up to them and asked in a deep booming voice, "Identification?"

Both Naruto and Anko pulled two slips of paper and handed it to the giant. His dark eyes gazed sternly at the paper from beneath the shadow of his helmet.

After several minutes of scrutiny, the man announced, "You may pass. Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru, you will take the stairs to the left that are going down. Mitarashi Anko, take the stairs to the right that are going up."

The two of them nodded quickly and made their way around the man's massive frame.

As they walked down the path, which they found to be made of a very beautiful stone that easily stood out from the rock used to craft the roads and streets that the crowd stood upon, the first jeers were called out.

"Poor Ame bastard! You'll ne'er make it past the Hyuuga, boy!"

The crowd roared in laughter and the noise level promptly became deafening as more insults began to be yelled out.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and continued walking down the stony path, ignoring the throngs of frenzied people that lined the sides.

Anko remained silent by his side, though Naruto could feel the rage radiating off of her. At the thought of what Anko would do to the crowd members if she had them all to herself, Naruto grinned.

They eventually past under the great archway into the arena and were soon confronted with the stairs that the samurai had mentioned.

There were indeed two sets of stairwells, which led both down to the arena and up to the contestants' box.

"Looks like this is where we part, dearest Naru-chan," Anko teased playfully in an obvious, and welcome, attempt to lighten the mood.

Naruto smirked and replied, "I suppose so. Wish me luck."

He turned to walk off down the stairs, but stopped when he felt Anko's cool hand gently latch onto his arm.

"I'll be right up there Naruto," she said with unusual seriousness. "Okay?"

The tender expression on Anko's face caused love and gratitude to well up inside of Naruto's chest.

Words could not describe that sensation and any attempt to limit such emotion would dim its power. Naruto, in a very rare moment, remained silent and merely smiled at her.

Anko nodded at him with a smile of her own on her face, then turned around and began to make her way up the stairs.

Naruto watched her walk up the stairwell until she disappeared from his sight. He then began his own walk down the stone steps, mind strangely at ease for the first time in hours.

* * *

Sakura gazed down upon the sandy floor of the arena with a touch of nervousness. Jinkoumaru was competing first and he was going against _Neji_. If the Hyuuga prodigy could act so ruthlessly towards his cousin, there's no telling what he would do to the timid and fragile Ame nin.

_He seemed really nice too_, Sakura thought sadly, _but I suppose it's just the way of things._

She glanced to her left at Sasuke and was slightly exasperated to see him as emotionless as ever.

"You'd think Kakashi-sensei's extra training would've perked him up a bit," she muttered under her breath.

"I heard that," Sasuke uttered indifferently, though a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips gave away his amusement.

Sakura huffed and turned away.

"Well maybe you should listen," she mumbled.

She heard an indistinct sigh escape Sasuke's mouth, before he replied calmly, "I can't help it if the first few matches are going to be boring."

Sakura promptly punched him in the shoulder.

He winced and then glared at her.

"Why did you do that?" he asked with the slightest hint of anger.

"Because that's a cruel and unfair thing to say," she replied immediately. "Everybody competing here was able to get past hundreds of other contestants and they deserve respect for that."

Sasuke stared at her with an expression that was the closest to incredulity Sakura had ever seen.

"You don't think so?" Sakura asked meekly as her mind provided several prime examples of individuals who shouldn't have made it to the Finals.

She watched as Sasuke stared out into the steadily increasing number of spectators filling the myriad stands of the arena. Kages, Daimyos, dignitaries, nobles, renowned warriors and the generals under which they served; all of the most important people on the continent and the surrounding islands were filing into the great arena that had been given the illustrious title of the "Gunshin no Seidou"*.

The splendor of these illustrious spectators was followed by the massive number of awestruck commoners, who found their way into every nook and cranny of the place that was deemed unfit for the likes of the upper class.

Truly, the sight of the arena and the roar of the thousands upon thousands of people entering the stadium overwhelmed Sakura completely.

"Do you really think that every contestant here deserves to display their skills before _this_?"

Sakura glanced at Sasuke in surprise, but knew exactly what he meant.

These people were here to watch shinobi of Sasuke and Neji's caliber. In other words, everyone wanted to see the elite, not mediocre ninja who'd gotten lucky. That core group of elite Genin encompassed maybe five or six of the thirty-one Finalists.

_Going by that line of thinking almost makes me agree with Sasuke_, Sakura thought somberly. _But isn't being lucky and clever part of being a shinobi as well?_

"I suppose not," Sakura replied, answering Sasuke's question, if not her own.

Just then, Sakura caught sight of Jinkoumaru's female teammate walking up the steps to the box.

The violet ponytail, which spiked out in numerous directions at the end, gave her away immediately, though the other contestants seemed very content to ignore her.

"Greetings Anko-san," Sakura called out politely, feeling bad for the girl being all alone.

The girl glanced her way and, for a moment, annoyance flashed through her exotic, pupil-less eyes. Yet it was soon replaced by blank politeness and Anko strode over to them sultrily.

Sakura, forcefully dismissing the annoyed look Anko had given her (as well as the way she was flaunting her already developing body), asked her cheerfully, "How was the walk over here?"

Anko shrugged and replied, "Okay I guess."

Determined not to let the conversation fall into awkward silence, Sakura inquired, "How do you think Jinkoumaru will do?"

Anko leaned against the banister of the contestants' box and draped her hands over the edge.

After several moments of looking out into the arena's crowd, she replied, "I suppose he'll do his best, but…"

A strange expression lit up Anko's face, but Sakura couldn't tell what it was.

"I'm sure he'll do fine," Sakura replied reassuringly. "Neji's pretty tough, but Jinkoumaru doesn't have to win to make Chuunin."

Anko glanced at Sakura, stared at her appraisingly for a moment, and then nodded in concurrence. However, Sakura thought she could see the disbelief in Anko's eyes. Even the boy's teammate recognized who the Finals were meant for…and who they were not.

Inwardly sighing, Sakura returned her attention to the arena. Truly, the shinobi world was cruel. Sakura knew that all too well.

* * *

Naruto exhaled deeply as the stadium above him rumbled once again. To say that it wasn't rattling his nerves would have been a lie. But to say that he wasn't _enjoying _the feeling of his nerves tingling like lightning would have also been a lie.

Truthfully, Naruto was pumped. Wonderfully, wonderfully pumped. The atmosphere felt charged with a contagious energy that Naruto couldn't help but catch. It made the blade hanging horizontally off his waist shiver with excitement. His headaches and pains were a distant memory. Everything was clear and beautiful in the rush of his anticipation.

Now if only they could start fighting instead of waiting in these damnable tunnels.

Currently, Naruto stood feet away from the entrance to the grass-covered earth that made up the arena's floor. Neji stood over a hundred yards away on the opposite side, impatient to end what he probably felt was an unnecessary match.

Time passed as the arena's final occupants took their seats, yet Naruto's excitement refused to dim.

Finally, the samurai guard beside the door suddenly glanced at a glowing seal on his exposed left forearm and then motioned for Naruto to head out.

Grinning happily, Naruto stepped out into the light of the arena.

A wave of sound slammed into him, surrounding and overwhelming his senses completely. Naruto stopped and stared at the arena dumbly, completely awed by the entity in front of him.

Thousands upon thousands of people screamed and yelled in one great mass that was only made greater by the immense size of the arena. Naruto could barely crane his head back far enough to catch in the entirety of the great architectural wonder. The lights of the _issui _made it even more heavenly and Naruto truly felt as if he was performing for the gods themselves.

_Perhaps I am_, he mused.

Naruto's amazement ended abruptly when a massive wave of boos suddenly erupted in a section of the mob to his right. They had apparently seen his Ame hitai-ate.

The wave howled down upon him like a hurricane, but Naruto, for a reason he couldn't understand, only became happier.

Clenching his fist and smiling thinly, Naruto continued his trek towards the proctor standing in the middle.

He reached the proctor, whom he recognized as Shiranui Genma from the Second Exam, in little time and had to endure nauseatingly uproarious cheers when Neji stepped out into the open. The crowd raged like lions as the boy strode regally towards Naruto. The cheering became even louder when he disappeared in an elegant swirl of leaves and then reappeared right in front of Naruto. His calm, indifferent expression did nothing to hide the pleased flourishes of his _issui_ that indicated the boy's satisfaction with the attention he was receiving.

Suddenly, the Hokage's voice, no doubt amplified by a jutsu, boomed throughout the arena, silencing the crowd in an instant.

"Honored contestants," the wise leader called, "this tournament, regardless of the political motivations apparent in its creation, is done in honor of you, the next generation of the shinobi world. You are here to show the mightiest people in the land your talents and worth as a ninja. For that, I am proud to bear witness to the beginnings of the careers of the most talented shinobi of this generation. Good luck and may you perform to the best of your abilities."

Naruto couldn't see the Hokage, but from the incredible round of applause and cheers that exploded out of the crowd, he assumed the speech was over.

Inwardly, a part of Naruto enjoyed the Hokage's proclamation. But the exhilaration he was feeling moved that to the very fringes of his mind and he immersed himself in the energy within him.

The cheering dimmed as Genma turned to both Naruto and Neji. The senbon-chewing man stared at the two Genin levelly and then proclaimed in voice amplified in a similar manner to the Hokage's, "The match is set to begin. Hyuuga Neji of Konohagakure—"

A massive chorus of cheers suddenly interrupted Genma's speech as the name of the prodigy was called out.

The Jounin waited for it to die down and then continued, "—versus Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru of Amegakure."

The crowd's response contained hints of boos from the more diehard Konoha fans, but mostly consisted of silence. It didn't surprise Naruto at all. The bloodthirsty mob would have been just as content to see him quit immediately as they would to see the Hyuuga genius use him as a punching bag. He was merely the appetizer for the main course.

"Contestants," Genma announced calmly, "the rules of this fight are simple. Any and all means available to you are allowed. You will fight until one of you is either incapacitated or dead. Obviously, the former option is encouraged. This Exam is meant to test you in order to ascertain if you are ready to become Chuunin. That means that even if you lose now, you can still become Chuunin if your performance displayed qualities of one worthy of being a Chuunin. That also applies to if you win the entire tournament. If you do not display the qualities necessary to attain the rank, then you won't receive it. Is that clear?"

Both Naruto and Neji nodded in response.

"Good," the proctor replied sharply, "then we can start. However, I will point out that this is the last chance for one of you to forfeit. The offer is void until the next match."

Though the question was directed at both of them, it was obviously intended for Naruto. Everyone, including Genma, glanced at Naruto expectantly. He returned their gazes with an even stare.

"Very well," Genma stated with what sounded like a hint of sadness, "then the match will begin when I say so."

Their proctor leapt back to the edge of the arena.

In the meantime, Neji bent down into his basic Hyuuga stance.

Before Naruto could do the same, his lavender-eyed opponent stated calmly, "You should have quit. I do not wish to waste my chakra on the likes of you and it is irksome that you have forced me to do so. Please allow me to stun you and end this charade quickly."

Naruto only had time to blink before Genma yelled out "Begin!"

The crowd roared with delight as the match commenced.

* * *

Neji disappeared in a blur, which Naruto had to admit was incredibly fast, and abruptly appeared beside him. His bandaged hand flashed towards Naruto's left side in a stabbing motion that practically radiated with _issui_.

It was over. Neji's strike would paralyze the _tenketsu _points in his lungs and cause Naruto to collapse in defeat. There was nothing Naruto could do and everyone in the stadium knew it. The cheers that ran through the stadium, the sympathetic sighs amongst the older shinobi, and the knowing smirks of the rest were all a horrible menagerie of Naruto's worst nightmare. He had lost.

Until his hand abruptly snatched onto Neji's forearm and easily threw to the side, forcing the Hyuuga prodigy to somersault several feet away from Naruto.

The crowd became deathly silent. Everyone gazed upon the scene in shocked amazement. Neji swerved around to stare at Naruto, his pale eyes displaying pure and raw emotion for the first time.

Naruto, however, merely started giggling. His laughter poured out of his mouth in a delighted stream of merriment. The excitement that had been building up and up inside of him had finally reached every part of his being…and it was now leaking out of the very fabric of his soul.

"Oh my dear Neji," he called out in an insanely happy voice, "did I send you on a little tumble?"

Neji merely gazed back, too stunned to reply.

Ignoring the lack of response, Naruto flexed his right hand and then called out with a confidence that did not fit the timidity he had displayed throughout the entire Exams, "_Kaze Yaiba no Jutsu_."

A powerful and pure blade of wind exploded around his right arm. It whipped and howled around his appendage like a furious storm. The look of unadulterated shock on Neji's face was beautiful.

"It's time I stopped holding back," Naruto stated with genuine delight. "Stand up straight, prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan! The time for battle is upon you…and the sight of the blood dripping from that wonderfully pale skin of yours will bring me such wondrous joy!"

With a wild laugh that suited Naruto's state of mind perfectly, he charged forth with a burst of wind and began the battle.

**A/N****: **I am so sorry that I have to end it here, but I have class tomorrow and a midterm to prepare for that's on Tuesday. I need to get as much sleep as possible. Don't worry, the next chapter will be out in less than a week definitely. Hopefully the fact that I submitted two chapters at once makes up for a little bit, but I doubt it does and, again, I promise to get Chapter 13 out in less than a week. This will definitely be a good battle. Neji's a tough opponent and will be quite a handful for Naruto. It'll be awesome to see how it turns out.

Review as much as you can to help spur me along in my writing and be as honest as possible! I want to make these fights as epic as possible.

Oramo

Gunshin no Seidou*—"God of War's Sanctuary": I'm not sure about the translation, so feel free to correct me.


	13. Taisaku Kaisen

**A/N****: **Thanks for all the reviews everyone. I'm glad to hear that the beginning of the Naruto/Neji battle was such a success. I intend it to be a decent match. Neji is pretty powerful at this stage and I want to do him justice. I also want to be able to have Neji undergo his revelation in concern with his attitude towards the Main Branch of the Family. However, that doesn't mean Naruto is going to, and I quote Weaponx178's review, "come off as a buffoon like when he fought Tadashii". Have no fears. This battle is certainly going to meet all of your expectations.

I'd also like to apologize about a comment Naruto made concerning psychopathic traits and ASPD (antisocial personality disorder). I implied that ASPD was just a new term for these characteristics. This is not the case. They are two different psychological descriptions for different behaviors. Again, I apologize.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 13 of _Naze?_, titled "Taisaku Kaisen".

_Taisaku Kaisen_

_Is that…is that Jinkoumaru?_

Sakura stared down in horror upon the scene below as the maniacal laughter of Jinkoumaru—the same timid and weak Jinkoumaru who had so graciously befriended her during the first two tests of the Exams—resonated throughout the silent stadium.

Indeed, Sakura was not alone in her astonishment. Everyone in the arena was staring down in surprise, if not outright shock. Who could blame them? Hyuuga Neji, one of the two famed prodigies of the next generation of Konoha's ninja, had been thrown to the ground as if he were…nothing.

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke and found his once dark, empty gaze to now contain a spark of interest. She swept her eyes over the entire congregation of participants within the contestant's box and found them too to bear similar expressions of curiosity.

"Did he just knock the Hyuuga down?" one of the four Oto nin in the booth asked quietly.

Sakura glanced at him for a moment, but then suddenly noticed the Suna nin behind him. Sabaku no Gaara stared at down onto the arena floor with something akin to interest in his teal eyes.

"Tch, like that means anything."

It was another Oto nin, this time a girl.

_I remember her_, Sakura thought in realization. _She used that weird technique with the bells. _

"What do ya mean by that?" a brusque voice asked suddenly.

This drew the attention of the participants onto Mitarashi Anko, whose golden eyes practically shined with glee.

The Oto girl, her pretty face contorted in a look of disdain, replied scornfully, "One lucky move and a bunch of scary chuckles aren't all that impressive."

Sakura expected Anko to glare at the girl, or go red in the face and start yelling. Instead, a serpentine smile slid across her face and she turned around to begin watching the fight again.

Looking back at the Oto nin, Sakura found her face to be an odd mixture of smugness and confusion. Clearly, the girl didn't know what to make of Anko's weird grin.

Sakura returned her attention to the arena floor and cringed as her eyes fell upon Jinkoumaru's insanely happy face.

_Is it all just an act?_ she wondered to herself. _It must be. Jinkoumaru doesn't seem the type to have such bloodlust within him. Besides that, he—_

Another blade of wind roared into life around Jinkoumaru's hand and he charged at Neji. As the boy's wild laughter filled the stadium, Sakura began to seriously doubt her initial assumption.

* * *

The ground blew upwards with the tremendous force of Jinkoumaru's wind jutsu, throwing Neji twenty feet across the arena. The Hyuuga prodigy instinctively curled up into a ball and, upon slamming into the hard earth of the arena's floor, rolled into a crouching position to face his grinning adversary.

Hyuuga Neji could admit to being many things, but a fool was not one of them. It was for this reason, ironically, that he was so stunned by Jinkoumaru's rapid transformation. The shell-shocked crowd's grave-like silence was not helping his mood either.

Neji, however, was not so amazed and awed by this boy's _one _move that he would lose hope now. That wasn't even in consideration.

Truthfully, Neji recognized the danger within that thought. It led to arrogance and conceit, two qualities which had been the death of ninja far stronger than he. The Hyuuga, when they deigned to render their "superior" services upon the Branch Family, emphasized this point above nearly all others.

They also instructed young Hyuuga children in the art of psychological warfare. One of the very first methods taught to them was the ability to enrage an opponent to the point of irrationality and stupidity.

Neji had perfected this during the war beautifully. He would "flaunt" his Hyuuga status over his opponents and drive them insane with fury, allowing Gai-sensei to finish them off.

As he had gotten older, Neji had learned other psychological tricks while spying on the Main Family members training. Considering that this was added to his training to master the more advanced techniques of the Byakugan that he had also "stolen" from the Main Branch members, Neji felt that it was somewhat impressive that he had managed to make so much progress.

However, it was clear that the basic Hyuuga ploy Neji had used countless times during the war would be of little use to him here. His opponent had—unbelievably—stolen the momentum from Neji's attack and followed up with one of his own, effectively forcing the Hyuuga prodigy into a corner.

_Please_, Neji thought disdainfully as Jinkoumaru leered at him, _as if countering a careless coup de grace elicits such an arrogant response. This boy's antics are clearly founded on nothing but the dull notion that I will let him get under my skin. I cannot discount the fact that he was hiding his skills and the expertise that he displayed with that Fuuton Jutsu was indeed impressive. However, it is a slow and unwieldy attack that, with the proper timing, can be easily surpassed._

His plan set, Neji gracefully stood up and called out to Jinkoumaru, "How remarkable of you to dodge such a flimsy attack. I apologize for underestimating you. It appears I may have to use both of my hands to defeat you."

The crowd, finally finding a reason to recover their senses, laughed at Neji's joke.

"Oh that's good Neji," Jinkoumaru replied gleefully, "'cause otherwise you'll die."

Before Neji could retort, Jinkoumaru's mouth moved a fraction of an inch.

Neji cried out "Byakugan!" just as the two blades of wind wrapping their silky hands around Jinkoumaru's arms grew even larger.

Jinkoumaru started sprinting towards him, his wind-covered arms trailing behind him limply. This actually seemed to slow the Ame-nin down, giving Neji several more milliseconds to think.

_With two blades_, he thought to himself analytically, _and the way he seems to be dragging them like weights, he'll no doubt sweep them in a wide arc. It is then that I shall strike._

The crowd, their dismay at seeing Neji thrown to the ground now replaced by anticipation of the clash, watched silently as the silver-haired boy charged at the Hyuuga prodigy.

When Jinkoumaru was just under a yard away, he whipped his left arm downwards in a violent slashing motion towards Neji's chest.

_You're done_, Neji thought victoriously as he easily dodged the veritable battering ram that was Jinkoumaru's forearm.

The blade that had missed Neji and struck the ground, however, did not dispel. Instead, Jinkoumaru used the momentum of his initial attack to continue the clockwise motion of his left blade. The right blade did this as well, and Neji found himself facing two roaring blades of wind racing down upon him like a storm.

They crashed to the ground with a roaring _BOOM_, sending dust and earth spewing everywhere. But Neji was already behind Jinkoumaru, his hand firm and flat in the air like a razor-thin knife.

Neji saw Jinkoumaru's stunned crimson eyes staring at him from over the boy's shoulder and smirked. His hand shot forward and, upon connecting with the vital tenketsu point in the Ame nin's left kidney, released a short burst of chakra to completely disable it.

"Goodbye…trash."

It was not arrogance that prompted Neji to utter those words. Instead, it was his belief that reality and Fate were cold to the feelings of humans. To Neji, someone was utterly worthless unless they could defeat him and since those who could defeat him could only do so by Fate's decree, they were worthy of his respect.

Jinkoumaru was not among this elite group of people. Not even close. The greatest amount of feeling that Neji could muster up for the boy was pity. Pity for prolonging the inevitable doom laid upon him by Fate and pity for having to endure the humiliation of being beaten so easily. It was almost sad. The crowd's delighted cheers provided a touching ambience to the moment.

All of these thoughts occurred within the instant it took for Neji's fingers to connect with Jinkoumaru's flesh. Those musings came to an abrupt halt, however, when Neji felt his fingers glancing off of his opponent's body.

For a moment, Neji had no idea what was happening. But then his Byakugan saw his opponent spinning away from Neji's hand…despite having been hit by his _Juuken_.

_I…I missed_, Neji thought incredulously. _Impossible!_

His eyes narrowed angrily, Neji spun around gracefully in the opposite rotational direction of Jinkoumaru and, when the two of them met, jabbed his hand forward in a basic _Juuken _attack.

Again, Neji felt his attack connect with Jinkoumaru's chest…and again Jinkoumaru rolled with it and then spun away.

_How_, Neji demanded of himself, his rage growing beyond anything he had felt before. _How is he not taking the hit?_

The disbelieving whispers that ran throughout the arena seemed to ask the same thing.

Neji's rage grew even more as he again hit Jinkoumaru and _again _he spun away unharmed.

A method that had served Neji for his entire life—one that had been the basis of his entire shinobi career—was failing him. It was _infuriating_.

With an uncharacteristic snarl, Neji threw himself at Jinkoumaru with a flurry of _Juken _strikes that would have appeared as only a blur to those in the stands.

Grinning wickedly, Jinkoumaru leapt towards him as well and the two clashed in a rush of movement.

To the people now breathlessly lining the stands, it seemed as if Neji and Jinkoumaru were engaged in some exotic dance too swift and fleeting to comprehend. To Neji, however, his attacks were as effective as the frantic lunges of a novice.

The unmistakable slaps of the _Juuken _could be heard resonating throughout at the arena, but they were sparse and rarely lasted more than two or three hits. Indeed, even when Neji did chance a hit upon his opponent, the effect was quickly mitigated by the smaller boy's elusive, somehow _Juuken_-proof body.

Jinkoumaru twisted, twirled, and leapt as limberly as some ethereal spirit, using his hands and feet as mere extensions of his will in order to dodge Neji's blows. Neji, who was considered one of the quickest and most agile of the entire Konoha Genin squad, found himself dizzied by the boy's movements. They were blurred and indistinct, being more akin to the composition of a mirage than that of human being.

In fact, the boy's entire body was covered in a haze.

_What is this?_ Neji wondered in confusion as he tried to jab Jinkoumaru in the chest. _I can barely see his _tenketsu _points!_

As time wore on, Neji felt desperation creep into his heart. His attacks were simply ineffective against this boy and if he didn't correct the problem quickly—

_No_, Neji thought with another snarl, _I will not lose to the likes of _him_. There is one more strategy_ _I can try with the _Juuken_, though I was hoping to save it for the later rounds. _

Angered by his need to rely on such a tactic, Neji nevertheless forced Jinkoumaru back with a swipe at his throat and then leapt several feet away. He bent down into the _Juuken _stance, pale eyes staring ominously at his enemy.

"_Hakke Rokujūyon Shō_," Neji uttered, before disappearing in a blur of speed.

The air of the arena wrapped around him refreshingly as he zoomed through it towards Jinkoumaru and engaged in the first of the series of _Juuken _strikes.

_Two palms_, he thought as his hands struck Jinkoumaru's first two _tenketsu _points. _Four palms…eight palms…sixteen palms…_

Neji's arms were mere wisps of wind as they struck each and every chakra point on Jinkoumaru's body. The Ame boy, his face unusually expressionless, went with the momentum of every strike, which resulted in his body limply shooting back and forth between Neji's blows like a rag doll.

Naturally, this greatly worried Neji.

_This is far too easy_, he thought in alarm as he moved onto the thirty-two palm stage of his movement. _Why is he not moving as he had before? Was my hypothesis correct? Am I simply striking too fast for his defense against my _Juuken _to counter?_

Skeptical that such a simple conclusion was the answer to all of his woes during this battle, Neji continued with his attack.

Finally, he yelled out, "Sixty-four palms!"

His movements suddenly became too fast for the naked eye to follow and the only way the crowd knew that Neji was attacking at all was that the Jinkoumaru's body reacted as if it was being attacked by thousands of needles.

The crowd had steadily begun to resume their cheering upon seeing Neji engage in one of the most mysterious, yet renowned abilities of the Hyuuga. The fact that Jinkoumaru had been good enough to elicit such talent from their genius made it all the better and the boy had to be given credit for giving Neji a chance to show off his skills to the other nations.

The cheering became a deafening roar when they heard Neji yell out the conclusion to his attack.

All who had heard the stories about the Hyuuga's legendary prowess in battle may not of have known about the sixty-four palm strikes, but they certainly knew of them. The mythical quality of the tales had risen to such a level that it was said that whenever a Hyuuga used the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō, the battle cry of "Sixty-four palms" meant the fight was over. The cheering grew ever louder.

It was to this all-encompassing wave of noise from the crowd that Neji completed the final strokes of his attack. When he reached sixty-two palms, Neji appeared a foot in front of Jinkoumaru to deliver the true coup de grace.

Neji drew his hands back, their fingers as rigid as a blade, and aimed instinctively at the two points surrounding the boy's sternum.

With utter gravity in his voice, Neji shouted with grave finality, "Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!"

His hands shot forward like arrows, the wind whistling around them beautifully. As Neji's fingers connected with Jinkoumaru's pressure points, he noticed the stunned and deadened look in his opponent's face…and how forced it seemed to be.

As horrified realization suddenly dawned upon Neji, Jinkoumaru, with a speed rivaling the palm strikes of the celebrated prodigy, burst his arms in between Neji's, pushed them away, and flipped over the startled Hyuuga.

Without his Byakugan, Neji would never have seen Jinkoumaru spin around upon landing and shoot his arms into his back.

Pain suddenly erupted in the back of Neji's rib cage and he was flung forward into the earth with unreal force. He collapsed onto the hard ground with a loud _crack_ and was met with darkness.

* * *

Anko grinned happily as she watched Neji's body fall to the ground. This seemed to be in direct contradiction, however, to her fellow Genin, who nearly all rushed up to the balcony Anko currently leaned upon and gazed down in shock at the Hyuuga prodigy's motionless form.

"H-how did he…?"

Anko glanced out of the corner of her eye at a girl to her left with her hair tied into two buns at the top. From the abnormally horrified expression on her face and the genuine concern evident in her brown eyes, Anko supposed that the girl was probably Neji's teammate.

The thought only made her grin widen.

"Anko-san."

She turned to her right and found Sakura staring at her intently.

Before Anko could ask her what the hell her problem was, Sakura demanded in a calm voice, "Did you know that Jinkoumaru was like," she motioned down to the boy in question and the wicked grin on his face, "_this_?"

Anko quirked an eyebrow sarcastically.

"Like what?" she asked coyly, all the while delighting in the pink-haired girl's dilemma.

For the first time since Anko had seen her, Sakura glared.

"You know what I mean," she replied menacingly.

"Oh," Anko exclaimed suddenly in mock revelation, "ya mean how he's eyein' that _pretty _lil' Hyuuga boy? Yeah, I knew about that."

Instantly, she felt the eyes of the surrounding Genin fall upon her, their intent no doubt to learn about the mysterious Ame nin's unexpected display of power.

Ignoring them and keeping her gaze locked onto Sakura (as well as Sasuke now, since his dark eyes had been among those who had turned towards her), Anko continued in a sardonically reassuring tone of voice, "But you should know that it isn't normally this bad. Poor Jinkoumaru's had to hold himself back for so terribly long…isn't really _his _fault if a little more blood spills than usual, y'know?"

Outwardly, Anko's smile became feral as she felt her words reverberate throughout the congregation of Genin. Inwardly, however, she wanted to cut herself with a knife.

_I don't care about these idiots_, she thought to herself as she heard her fellow participants whisper to each other conspiratorially. _In fact, I rather enjoy scaring the living hell out of 'em. But bragging about what Naruto does…I really want to get this mission over with so I don't have to see—_

"Get up Neji," Naruto suddenly called out in a terrifyingly longing voice. "I want to see that sweet, sweet nectar—crimson and beautiful—pour out over your skin as the light fades from your eyes…"

Anko repressed a wince as she heard the shocked and horrified gasps of the crowd and Genin. Honestly, she couldn't blame them. The lust in her beloved Naruto's voice made Anko want to fling herself over the edge of the balcony and beat him to a pulp so he'd regain his senses.

But she couldn't. For their mission to succeed, Anko had to continue to plaster that sick smile on her face, as if Naruto's insanity was all part of the plan.

* * *

Pain, coupled with humiliation, racked Neji's body and mind.

He had been struck down. He, the genius of the renowned Hyuuga clan, had been repelled like an insignificant pest.

The rage that burned within Neji was not the fiery indignation he had experienced after Jinkoumaru had nullified his _Juuken_. It was a cold, steely fury that spread it's ruthless tendrils around his heart and desired only one thing: Jinkoumaru's death.

_He will die_, Neji thought viciously as he squared his arms beneath him and began pushing himself up. _I'll not allow myself to fall before the likes of _him_. Ever! _

The arena erupted into relieved applause and cheers when Neji suddenly stood up, though it did not settle the anxiety within the hearts of the crowd:

"That boy—Jinkoumaru's his name? Right! That Jinkoumaru stopped _it_!"

"I say it was luck! It had to be."

"But Neji hit him. I saw it, I saw it! How could he still be standing?"

To Neji, however, these conversations, currently raging throughout the entire stadium, were nonexistent. All that mattered now was the boy grinning delightedly in front of him, his very presence radiating confidence.

Smiling thinly, Neji, in spite of his fury, suddenly suggested, "Perhaps we can truly begin…Jinkoumaru-san."

With that, the proud Hyuuga prodigy bowed in the most respectful manner he could.

The arena shook with the indignant and angry roars of the crowd.

As Neji stood up, he noticed his opponent's grin slowly change into a knowing smile. Jinkoumaru nodded curtly to Neji and assumed what the Hyuuga thought was a battle-ready position.

Neji ignored the furious yells of the crowd as they watched Jinkoumaru return the respectful gesture with barely any acknowledgment at all. Instead, he analyzed the Ame nin's actions up to this point, intent upon understanding the mentality of his opponent.

The insane hysteria that had guided Jinkoumaru's actions was gone now, replaced instead with a calculating look that better suited a strategist than someone of Jinkoumaru's personality—or rather, the character Jinkoumaru had crafted for them all to believe in. Neji decided to ignore the hungry gleam in his opponent's eyes, however. That could only lead to disturbing conclusions.

Forcing his mind onto other matters, Neji considered the boy's deception during the Exams. Truly, he had seemed as ordinary and generic as any of the other weaklings. That had clearly been an illusion. The shinobi that stood in front of Neji had the look of something that none of the Genin of Konoha had become yet: a killer.

_This boy_, Neji thought calmly,_ though not fated to win, will truly be a worthy test of my skills. He has, after all, already proven to be vital in gauging the limits of my Byakugan. He's even shown me a flaw greater than the blind spot. To think that he has found a way to negate the power of one of the two great doujutsu of Konoha…how exhilarating. _

Neji, his thin smile still adorning his face, stared back into Jinkoumaru's eyes…and then made a move that not even the unpredictable Ame nin could have expected. The tell-tale veins of the Byakugan retracted into Neji's skull as his legendary Kekkei Genkai was deactivated.

* * *

Naruto frowned upon seeing the veins of Neji's Byakugan slither back into the boy's skull, but quickly smiled again.

_He figured it out_, Naruto mused approvingly. _I wonder what he'll do next then…after he confirms his hypothesis, of course._

Indeed, Neji stared at Naruto for several minutes in complete silence. Finally, the Hyuuga prodigy closed his eyes and asked in a voice too low for all save Naruto to hear, "How?"

Naruto smirked smugly.

"Why should I tell you?" he asked impudently.

Neji's eyes snapped open and his mouth curled into a disdainful sneer.

"Because you obviously want to," he replied in a disgusted tone of voice. "You've been holding back for over a month and have had to endure the condescension of those around you for that entire time. Therefore, it is natural to assume that you fervently desire to lord your actual level of power over those who mocked you. Am I correct?"

Naruto scowled crossly.

_Jerk's a little more insightful than I gave him credit for_, he thought to himself with a small hint of sheepishness. _I guess I do wanna brag a little. But I ca—WHY AM I NOT BLEEDING HIM?_

Naruto inhaled sharply as his head suddenly erupted with pain.

_I need to cut him and slice him and bleed him and comfort him and _kill _him_, he involuntarily thought amidst the ever-growing agony that was his mind.

"Yes," he muttered under his breath in a voice dripping with desire, "I _need_—"

"HEY JINKOU!"

Naruto snapped his attention up to the right, only to find Anko grinning at him cheekily as she leaned over the edge of the contestants' booth.

"Hurry the hell up! I'm gettin' bored, damn it!"

He stared at her for a moment, dumbstruck at the audacity and abruptness of her shouting. And then he noticed her _issui_ racing frantically in counterclockwise vortexes around her body, which Naruto had learned was a sign of immense fear and anxiety.

The headache slamming relentlessly against his head stopped instantly and rational thought once again assumed control of his mind.

Inwardly, Naruto felt pure and unfettered gratitude well up inside of him. Outwardly, when one's body language was read unremittingly by one's enemies during battle, Naruto merely returned his dear friend's grin with one of his own.

"I'll be finished in a bit dear," he replied mirthfully.

To his relief, Anko's _issui _calmed down immediately and began dancing in relief. He thought he saw the shadow of a smile on her face just before she resumed her place amidst the Genin crowding the balcony and disappeared from his view.

"You are quite arrogant, Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru," Neji uttered suddenly, "to look away from your opponent during a life or death confrontation. I would have been right to slit your throat, but my curiosity about your methods is—"

"—insatiable?" Naruto suggested easily as he turned back towards the boy, all too familiar with the irresistible beckoning of the unknown that he knew was plaguing his enemy.

Neji smirked and nodded in concurrence.

"Yes," he replied. "I must know how you can negate my Byakugan. If you would deign to indulge such information, I would be—"

"Flattery doesn't suit you," Naruto interrupted quickly, "and I've already experienced you acting like an arrogant prick."

Neji scowled, but not before his _issui _slumped momentarily in a regretful manner. Ignoring it, Naruto waited for Neji to reply.

"Perhaps if you had not been so foolish," the Hyuuga prodigy responded, "I would not have been so rude. Then again, one cannot resist one's natural inclination."

"You callin' me a fool, pale-eyes?" Naruto asked testily.

"I am," Neji replied calmly, "and you have given me little reason to doubt the validity of that accusation. You didn't finish me off when you had the chance, you deliberately turned away from me to engage in meaningless chatter with your teammate, and then you allowed me to regain enough chakra to perform a jutsu you haven't even had the care to pick up on. Please, Jinkoumaru-_san_, tell me why I would not think that you are a fool?"

Naruto placed his hands on the back of his head, leaned back casually, and then grinned at Neji insolently.

"I'm not a fool," Naruto responded, "because I'm not _foolish_ enough to tell you the secrets of my Kekkei Genkai just to prove to you that I'm wise…which would be rather counter-productive in my opinion. And don't threaten me with some secret jutsu that will win the match for you. If there's something you should know about my ability, it's this: it'll stop whatever stupid-ass technique you're gonna use."

Neji smiled and then formed a shockingly familiar sign with his hands.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_," he called out calmly.

Naruto's eyes widened horrifically.

"B-beg pardon," he asked timidly as a cold pit settled within his stomach.

Puffs of smoke popped into existence in a circle around Naruto and then faded away to reveal five healthy Neji clones.

Though the irony of the situation was sickening, Naruto instantly dropped into a battle-ready stance and began formulating a plan to escape the circle of clones, which he was quite certain would be the death of him.

"The time for alertness has long since passed, Jinkoumaru," Neji declared in that same annoyingly calm voice. "Had you taken your surroundings into consideration, you would have had ample time to escape the circle of chakra I began surrounding you with. But that is inconsequential now. I designed this move as an endgame tactic, but I have never faced an opponent who has actually _reached_ the endgame. Therefore, you are an opportunity I shall not pass up. If you won't tell me your secret, then I'll use you as practice."

As he slowly reached his hand around behind him to grasp the hilt of his sword, Naruto forced a grin back onto his face and remarked mockingly, "Hope you're not getting too tired there, Neji-kun. That jutsu takes a lot of chakra, y'know?"

Neji, who did, in fact, seem to be breathing heavier than he had been, frowned momentarily, but gave no other outward sign that he had heard Naruto.

The clones suddenly leapt forward and attacked Naruto, moving with the same fluidity and grace as their creator.

Naruto dodged the attacks easily, but found to his slight alarm that the clones did not seem intent upon actually hitting him. They raced around him in elegant blurs, throwing punches and kicks that kept forcing him back in a particular direction.

_So that's what he's doing_, Naruto thought as he performed an aerial cartwheel over a clone's incoming kick and then, upon landing, leaned back gracefully to avoid the fist of another. _Quite clever of you Neji, but it won't work. _

Naruto suddenly noticed Neji form a ram sign with his right hand and heard him proclaim calmly, "_Hijutsu: Hakkesho Kaiten Faibusutawaza_."

He only had time to widen his eyes before the clones, standing mere feet away from him, assumed _Juuken _stances and then began rapidly rotating in a sky blue whirl of chakra.

To those watching the magnificent display, it appeared as if Jinkoumaru's slight form had disappeared within five massive domes of blue light, forever engulfed by their intense radiance. Several members of the crowd and a few of the Konoha Genin amongst the troupe of participants in the booth even ventured a few victorious cheers for the Hyuuga prodigy.

It all ended in an abrupt manner (an event which several amongst the shinobi contingent of the crowd were beginning to expect) when a massive vortex of wind suddenly roared from within the epicenter of the clones' attacks, effectively dispelling the clones and their jutsu as well as billowing over the crowd in a powerful vortex.

A few screams were even heard as the wind blew through the stands of the arena (forcing many spectators to frantically seek cover beneath their seats) and had one chanced a glance at the Genin booth, they would have seen a very envious and indignant-looking Sabaku no Temari glaring down at the source of the torrent.

Soon, the wind slowed and the blast of force that had roared and raged throughout the area died down to a faint breeze. The hiding spectators', feeling it was now safe, gradually began to cautiously peek their heads over the tops of their seats and gaze down at the fighters.

To the relief of many, Hyuuga Neji was standing as serenely as he had been before the wind storm, save that the ground surrounding him was marred by several deep gashes that curled around the boy in an astonishingly circular pattern.

In front of him stood Jinkoumaru, his left arm casually extended horizontally out to his side with an air that seem to speak of absolute control—terrifyingly absolute control over the gentle air that brushed against the faces of those who gazed upon him.

The battle was not over. Not even close.

"You failed to consider, Neji," Naruto declared with a touch of finality as he slowly lowered his arm to the side, "that an opponent who is able to reach _your _endgame may have the ability to construct a quite different conclusion than your intent. For instance, my endgame might involve you wasting a massive amount of your chakra on a pointless attack."

Naruto smirked as Neji grimaced, an expression that was no doubt a combination of exhaustion and the realization of his failed attack.

But the Hyuuga stood firm and replied, "Who said it was pointless? You too had to waste your chakra fending off my clones' advances, as well as from using that jutsu. A jutsu, I might add, that I am _insatiably _curious to know about.

Grinning from ear to ear upon seeing the gleam in Neji's eye, Naruto answered promptly, "Of course. Just to clear things up, I used two jutsu, not one. The first was called 'Soyokaze'. The second—you might want your eyes for this."

Neji, anxiety beginning to form a knot within him, rapidly activated his Byakugan, but not before Naruto suddenly disappeared into a whirl of wind. A look of dismay flashed across the Hyuuga prodigy's face in perfect synchronization with the gasps of the crowd. It was not Jinkoumaru's disappearance, however, that prompted this feeling of alarm within Neji. Instead, it was the countless number of chakra signatures that had suddenly appeared around him. The crowd was only made aware of this when all of them abruptly appeared out of thin, wispy air at once.

Amidst the cries of shock that resonated throughout the arena, Neji managed to stutter out, "H-how?"

One of the Naruto's smiled and replied, "My dear friend, I would like to introduce you to my very own Kaze Bunshin."

A wicked grin spread across all of the clones' faces that held the ferocity of the substance they were made of. Neji felt fear worm its way into his head once more.

"Any last words Neji," another clone asked mockingly.

Neji glared at them defiantly.

"Very well," yet another responded. "Let's go boys!"

The clones disappeared in blurs and before Neji could even comprehend what had happened, they were zooming into him with attacks only the Byakugan or its cousin, the Sharingan, could hope to observe.

Blow after blow collided into Neji's weakening body as he struggled to muster up some kind of counterattack. If the clones' punches and kicks hadn't been so weak in comparison with a normal human's, Neji would have undoubtedly died within the first few moments. Instead, he was forced to suffer the agony of a tirade of hits that were too numerous to even hope to count.

The hopelessness of it all suddenly caused true panic to seize hold of Neji's mind. Could he actually be defeated? Was that his fate? To lose in the first round of the Chuunin Exam Finals to some nobody?

A clone suddenly appeared behind Neji.

_I can at least get one_, he thought desperately as a sudden and newfound determination to defy this "fate" began taking a hold of his heart.

Neji lunged at the clone with his right palm. The rest of the clones immediately moved to attack his arm, but his _Juuken _attack, used instinctively and without regard to Jinkoumaru's immunity to the Hyuuga's main fighting style, pierced through the clones' blows against his forearm easily and he managed to actually hit the _tenketsu _point near his target's heart. It vanished with a mere puff of wind.

For a moment, Neji simply stared at the spot where the clone had once stood, too stunned to notice his surroundings until he was knocked to the ground by a flurry of blows. The pain meant little to him, however, and he quickly flipped to his feet before the Kaze Bunshin could swarm onto his downed form. The revelation he had just experienced was far greater than any mere injury.

_I…I can see their tenketsu points_, Neji thought to himself excitedly he passed his Byakugan over the mass of clones. _The haze does not surround them, which means the original's immunity is not a natural defense. It can be overcome. _

The Fate that had seemed so terribly cruel to Neji before now appeared to be blessing him, for the small breeze that had blown through the arena after Jinkoumaru's attack suddenly descended upon the battlefield, causing all of the clones shimmer with it as if they were made of nothing more than…air.

Grinning in a savage manner that was quite unusual for the normally serene boy, Neji, forcing his body to endure the incessant attacks of the clones, quickly got into a _Juuken _stance and mentally screamed to his body: _HAKKESHO KAITEN!_

He began spinning rapidly in a radiant blue whirl of energy that immediately destroyed the Kaze Bunshin in his immediate vicinity. But that was not its only effect. The wind created by the rotating chakra dome began sweeping the rest of the clones into a vortex around it, subsequently reducing them to nothing more than breaths of wind.

The crowd, who had been frantically yelling at Neji to endure during the clones' relentless attack, now broke into wild and exuberant cheering.

Neji finally stopped his rotation when his Byakugan sensed that all of the clones were gone and quickly began looking for the original. He had a hypothesis to test. If it was correct, then there was still a chance for him to claim victory.

* * *

Naruto cringed as he witnessed the whirling storm of Neji's _Kaiten _attack from within his _Soyokaze_.

_Stupid Neji_, Naruto thought with a pout, _figuring out my attacks like that. How dare he destroy my darlings? Ugh…whatever. I'll just have to—_

"Yet again you underestimate me Jinkoumaru."

Naruto's eyes widened in what some might have considered a comical manner. He felt the tug of Neji's _issui _right behind him and that was not good. Not good at all.

Naruto's Soyokaze dissipated off of him, revealing his true form to the confused onlookers who had been rather curious as to why Neji had been conversing with an empty spot underneath the lone tree that stood on the arena floor.

Turning his head around to look behind his right shoulder and smiling with desperate cheerfulness, Naruto weakly waved his hand in greeting and asked meekly, "H-hey buddy, h-how ya doin'?"

Without warning, Neji's left arm slashed downwards like a blade. Naruto quickly leapt forward to avoid it and succeeded in landing in a handstand several feet away. Upon landing, he pushed himself back towards Neji, twirled through the air until he was facing his opponent, and then attempted to axe-kick the prodigy's face into the ground.

Neji leaned back to avoid the blow and followed up with a powerful upward strike of his left arm towards Naruto's exposed chest. Naruto, using the momentum of his kick, flipped forward and dodged the attack. As he sailed through the air, Naruto felt the _issui _pulling him in the opposite direction of where he'd last seen Neji.

Not taking any chances, Naruto, upon landing, swiftly leapt back further. When the ground exploded with energy mere feet in front of him, Naruto suddenly became very, very grateful for his radiant friends.

The debris summoned forth from the ground after Neji's attack swiftly dissipated as said Hyuuga genius burst through the brown cloud in a whirl of speed. Naruto, however, had already seen Neji's _issui _reach out towards him and was quite ready to leap to his far left when Neji's right palm shot towards his chest.

As soon Naruto did move to his left, however, Neji cried out, "_Hakke Kusho!_"

Neji's left hand slithered under his right and a blast of wind originating from within it slammed into Naruto, sending him flying across the arena floor. Pain burst all across his body as he rolled over the ground, until he finally skidded to a stop several dozen yards away from Neji.

Naruto gasped for breath on the ground. The attack had knocked the wind right out of him, a fact which his pain-stricken mind found quite ironic given the attacks which he'd been using against Neji.

Necessity drowning out the pain with adrenaline, Naruto quickly flipped to his feet and placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

_My jutsu negated the chakra in that attack_, he quickly deduced as he gazed at Neji, _but the wind from it flung me back all the way over here. If that had been a direct hit…_

Clearing his thoughts with a shake of his head, Naruto moved on to Neji's condition. The boy looked exhausted and extremely worried. His lean body heaved to and fro with the effort of passing air into his lungs as the dirt on his face, accumulated from running through the cloud of soil, marred his once angelically pale skin.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow.

_What was he trying to do?_ he wondered mentally. _He's had to have figured out by now that those types of attacks won't work. But then again, this attack was slightly different. It was far too massive to be a _Juuken_, yet it was far too precise to be a _Kaiten_. A little experimenting couldn't hurt, I suppose._

At a speed that most likely dazzled the spectators anxiously eyeing the battle below, Naruto began forming handsigns. The wind whistled around his hands as he began setting up his jutsu and the _issui _around him started forming the paths upon which the chakra would move.

In a matter of seconds after he'd begun, Naruto moved his hands together in the Dragon sign and then shouted out, "_Fuuton: Yari no Shuukai!_"

It came as no surprise to him that Neji, whose eyes suddenly widened in shock, was able to see the dozens upon dozens of spears, which were as powerful and sharp as the wind they were made out of, appear behind Naruto.

Grinning viciously, Naruto warned in a mocking tone, "Be careful now Neji. These babies are _awful _sharp."

Naruto, whose hands had remained in the Dragon sign the entire time, quickly moved his right arm forward, as if ordering a legion of troops to charge. Like loyal soldiers, the spears hovering over Naruto right shoulder sped forward with a roaring rush.

Neji, his face set in desperate determination, hurriedly started spinning in his _Kaiten _move. Fortunately for the Hyuuga, his defenses were up just as the blades impacted, creating a loud _BOOM _that resonated throughout the entire arena.

_He's not using that other move_, Naruto realized as soon as he'd seen Neji start the _Kaiten_. _His chakra must be too low to use it. His _issui _patterns, or what I could see of them before he started the _Kaiten_, tell the same story. That works out just fine. Let's see: he's spinning in a counterclockwise direction. Perfect! _

Naruto moved his left hand forward and then made a sign with his index and middle fingers. The spears on his left instantly obeyed the command and flew towards Neji's _Kaiten_. This time, however, they were aimed for a specific spot in the rotating dome of chakra, whereas the previous attack had hit the entire thing in one jumbled wave.

When the blades of wind collided with the dome, the effect was instantaneous. The rotation of the _Kaiten_, being resisted by a force of near greater strength, halted immediately. The blue dome of chakra disappeared, revealing a desperate Neji frantically holding back the now combined mass of spears with what appeared to be a small segment of the _Kaiten_, which was connected to his entire body via chakra tendrils.

His opponent's defenses exposed, Naruto made his move.

* * *

The Kazekage eyed the battle below him with great interest. How could he not? A boy from the village that his former "leader", Pain, now ruled was showing the signs of possessing a doujutsu that rivaled the Byakugan.

_How interesting_, Orochimaru thought as he watched the silver-haired lad form handsigns. _I wonder how it would do against the Sharingan._

Making a short movement with his hand, Orochimaru waited for his bodyguard to kneel by his side for orders.

"Is something wrong, Kazekage-dono?"

Orochimaru glanced over at his former mentor and took in his kindly old face. Perhaps a truthful answer was the best option.

"No, Hokage-dono," he replied politely, "I am merely curious to hear what my captain thinks of this Jinkoumaru. I myself would be very interested to see him fight the Uchiha. To think that this boy might be able to beat both of your prodigies—"

"My dear friend," the Hokage interrupted with a laugh, "you do not give Neji enough credit. The Hyuuga has a few more tricks up his sleeve, I assure you. If Jinkoumaru is able to win in spite of that fact, then, I think, I can begin to understand your certainty."

"Perhaps you are right, Hokage-dono," Orochimaru replied agreeably.

Inwardly, however, his thoughts rested upon the relationship that he was sure existed between Jinkoumaru and Pain: _If Pain has found a way to create creatures such as this boy, then I will need Sasuke's abilities as soon as possible if I am to survive the Akatsuki's war. Unless…perhaps dear Jinkoumaru is merely a prototype. Yes, that must be it. If I can acquire him as well as Sasuke, then not even the Akatsuki will be able to interfere with my work. But this boy appears to still be holding back. To give him the Curse Mark, I will need his mind and body to be too weak for his abilities to expunge it. If his abilities actually can expunge it, that is. So much to study…so much to learn! A device created by the wielder of the Rin'negan must be valuable._

Glancing at his guard Jirobo, Orochimaru placed a slender finger on the Curse Mark concealed beneath the behemoth's shoulder plate and sent a message to his subordinate.

Jirobo was still for a moment as he absorbed the information, but soon nodded in acknowledgment of the order and disappeared in a blur.

_Go on Jinkoumaru_, Orochimaru thought as he licked his lips beneath the Kazekage's mouth cover, _fight until you are near death…and then I will claim your eyes for myself._

_

* * *

_

Neji stared in true terror at Jinkoumaru as he watched his opponent's hands dance rapidly through a myriad of handsigns.

_I n-need…to move_, he thought frantically.

The wind from Jinkoumaru's first jutsu howled in his ears, drowning all other sounds completely. Desperation grew like a storm within him as his muscles shook with the force of keeping the blades of wind at bay. He was completely open for attack.

_I…I can't start…the…_Kaiten, Neji thought as spasms rumbled throughout his body.

He thought about dropping his shield completely and then dodging the wind spears, but he quickly trashed this idea upon seeing how wide and thick the thing was.

"It's…it's no good," he muttered helplessly as a drop of sweat slowly rolled down his nose, slowly inching its way to the edge with every heaving breath Neji took.

Unable to resist, Neji's gaze gradually fell onto the form of Jinkoumaru. The boy was making handsigns at an incredibly speed. They were so fast, in fact, that they appeared as a blur to Neji, even with his Byakugan.

_No doubt…the same…abominable jutsu_, he thought wryly.

Realization suddenly dawned upon him like the first ray of sunlight piercing through the darkness of early morning.

"That's it," he exclaimed happily amidst the roar of the wind, "I know how to—"

A wave of chakra, pure and unadulterated, suddenly washed over Neji, completely drowning out the victorious revelation that had filled him.

Neji quickly refocused his attention back onto Jinkoumaru. To his complete horror, Jinkoumaru's hands were now still. They rested on the Dragon sign once again.

The happy gleam in Jinkoumaru's crimson eyes was all the warning Neji needed.

"_Fuuton_," the vicious Ame boy cried, "_Kamikaze no Koukuukougeki!_"

Jinkoumaru, keeping his left hand formed in a one-handed Dragon sign, whipped his right hand behind his back and drew his sword out in an elegant whirl. A fraction of a moment later, he brought the sword down in a ferocious strike.

To the crowd, it appeared as if a giant diagonal pillar of wind had erupted from the very fabric of the air itself. For Neji, who was directly in its line of attack and who possessed the Byakugan, the massive column was a radiant ray of light pouring forth from ethereal depths of the underworld…and it was speeding straight towards him. Had Neji's life not been in immediate danger, he would have stared in complete and utter awe at the overwhelming sight before him.

But he couldn't do that. He needed to live. He _wanted _to live. No matter how overwhelming the odds, the need to survive this battle became paramount to him above all else.

Moving his body into a Juuken stance while still using his right hand to hold his shield up, Neji gathered what remaining chakra he had into his every one of his _tenketsu _points. The pillar continued to race forward, carving a huge gash into the arena floor as it moved.

Neji stared at it with as much calm as he could muster. His timing needed to be perfect if he wanted to live.

After an eternity of waiting, the pillar was finally within range.

"_Hakkesho Kaiten_," he shouted calmly and promptly began spinning in a clockwise motion.

The spears that he had been holding back for so very long burst forth, but were forced around the _Kaiten_ due to its changed spin. Just as Neji had counted on, they did not dispel. Instead, they formed a vortex of their own around the _Kaiten_.

Neji continued waiting as he spun, the horrible fear of the clash to come prolonging the moment indefinitely.

_BOOM!_

It was in Fate's hands now.

* * *

Naruto panted tiredly as he watched one of his greatest attacks soar towards Neji. The impact was instantaneous and Naruto miraculously heard the screams of the crowd as the mighty torrent collided with his opponent right next to the stands. It mattered little to him. He was sure the arena had some kind of barrier to protect the crowd in case an overly powerful attack managed to reach past the edges of the battlefield. If not…sacrifices had to be made, after all.

He chuckled, but the act of doing so caused him to collapse to his knees. The rough bang of hitting the ground and the clatter of his beautiful sword against the soil made Naruto very aware of how weak he felt.

"That really took a lot out of me," he mumbled in a light-headed daze. "Maybe they'll let me sleep a bit before my next—"

The light of the sun that had been shining over the top of the arena abruptly darkened.

Naruto blinked stupidly for a moment, before realizing with a start that he was being concealed beneath a shadow. And since he'd not felt the proctor reenter the battle zone, that left only-

He swung his head up in shock to find Neji's battered and bleeding form standing mere feet in front of him. His pale eyes glared victoriously at Naruto…and it terrified him.

"_H-hakke_," Neji muttered in a voice too soft and low for any but Naruto to hear, "_Hasangeki_…"

Naruto could only watch helplessly as Neji's palm impacted with his chest. The world exploded with light and pain. And then all was darkness.

* * *

The crowd watched in amazement as Jinkoumaru's small form exploded backwards from Neji's palm and flew into the wall of the arena. It collided into the stone with a sick crunching sound that made even the most diehard Konoha supporter shudder.

Silence pervaded the arena as everyone waited for the hated enemy of their beloved Neji to crawl out of the cavernous hole and renew his relentless onslaught. The crowd held its breath anxiously, staring at the spot where Jinkoumaru was supposed to be with pounding hearts. Even Uchiha Sasuke could be seen staring down at the area with fervent interest in his eyes.

A movement within the hole suddenly caught the attention of one of the crowd members and she gasped in horror. The entire arena heard this exclamation of shock and soon they all could see something moving within the fissure.

"Go Neji," a man frantically screamed out, "kill him now!"

The arena was silent for just another moment and then erupted with the crazed screams of the crowd, all of them demanding that their genius finish off the devilish boy _now_.

Neji, however, remained rooted to the spot, his gaze focused only on the contents of the gap in the arena wall that Jinkoumaru had disappeared into.

Out of nowhere, Jinkoumaru suddenly appeared at the edge of the hole, his face concealed by long and silky strands of blonde hair. Someone screamed in terror.

Jinkoumaru leaned forward and the crowd watched him breathlessly. He continued to lean further and further over the edge, bangs hanging loosely over his face. And then, he fell off of the yard high edge of the hole and collapsed to the ground in a heap.

The crowd erupted in cheers.

* * *

**A/N****: **Hope everyone enjoyed the fic. Don't worry about Naruto, by the way. Just…don't worry. Trust me, okay? I'm sorry I didn't get this to you on time and I am even sorrier that I left you on another cliffhanger. The next several chapters will be shorter, but I have two weeks of college left and Finals/Midterms to prepare for, so don't expect anything too quickly.

I anxiously await your reviews and I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this latest chapter of _Naze?_.

Oramo

_Juuken_—"Gentle Fist"

_Hakke Rokujūyon Shō_—"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms"

_Hijutsu: Hakkesho Kaiten Faibusutawaza_—"Secret Art: Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Rotation Five-Star Technique": This is a variation of Neji's technique using Shadow Clones (_Kage Bunshin_). I'm really unsure about the translation, so feel free to correct me. I know that _Hakkesho Kaiten_ means "Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Rotation", but _Faibusutawaza _as "Five-Star Technique" is leaving me wondering. Nevertheless, I think it was quite clever of me to create this technique (which I'm fairly certain hasn't been done before) and I hope none of you think it's too weird for Neji to use Naruto's trademark technique.

_Kaze Bunshin no Jutsu_—"Wind Clone Jutsu": Creates clones out of wind. These clones actually like mini-gales given form, making them nearly impossible to destroy using physical attacks.

_Hakke Kusho_—"Eight Trigrams Empty Palm": A transparent _Kaiten _that is directed at a specific target.

_Fuuton: Yari no Shuukai_—"Wind Release: Mass of Spears": Summons a "mass of spears" made out of wind to bombard an enemy. Requires a great deal of chakra.

_Fuuton: Kamikaze no Koukuukougeki_—"Wind Release: Strike of the Divine Winds"

_Hakke Hasangeki_—"Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher": More powerful version of _Hakke Kusho._


	14. Nekusuto Gekikai no Akebono

**A/N****: **Greetings everyone. I'm very pleased with the amount of reviews "Taisaku Kaisen" received (seventeen in eight hours!) and even more pleased that many of you care enough to point out the flaws within the chapter. Speaking of which, some of you felt that I didn't deliver on my promise that Naruto's full abilities would be shown and claimed that I ended the story the way I did merely to create a dramatic effect. Looking back on it, I have to agree…sort of.

I admit that I promised you Naruto's full strength, but didn't deliver. I didn't mislead you just to be a douche, however. The reason why Naruto had such trouble is _because _he was better. His strength made him arrogant and he suffered for that. I can see, however, how I led you on. You're completely right in believing that someone trained by Akatsuki members would be more powerful than a Genin, no matter how talented said Genin is. I apologize for this and I promise that this chapter will make up for it.

Others of you have said that Naruto was inconsistent during the fight (personality-wise, I'm assuming) and I totally agree. In fact, I've gone back and edited some of the chapter to make the transition from insane-psycho Naruto to slightly-more-sane Naruto a little more realistic. I'm incredibly sorry about his; but at the same time, I'm very grateful to those of you who pointed it out to me. This is forcing me to pay a greater amount of attention to the realism of my characters' reactions and moods. Again, I thank you.

Others of you had issue with how quickly Naruto's chakra depleted and that this directly contradicts the idea that Naruto didn't use his full strength. All I'll say is that it has to do with his Kekkei Genkai.

As for Naruto losing…just read. Unlike a novel, fanfic (and manga) kind of force the reader to wait for the next chapter, leaving ample time for said reader to become dismayed about a previous chapter's ending and stop reading the story altogether. If this were a novel, the reader would only have a few desperate seconds before they flipped the page and could read the conclusion of the cliffhanger. So don't fret about the conclusion of last chapter.

On another note, I want to make it clear where Naruto stands in terms of power. I like using the "if Kakashi fought Naruto" scenario because it's used all the time in other fanfics. So, if Kakashi fought Naruto right now, Naruto would lose pretty handily. In fact, he'd lose to any Jounin he faced (assuming the Jounin was actually at Jounin level). Naruto's a lot more powerful than the vast majority of his peers, but he's not good enough to utterly annihilate someone of Neji's caliber. Yes he was trained by Pain, but that training only lasted for a few months and it was basically to get Naruto up to speed in the basics. His sensei has taught him a great deal, but I feel that after only four years of such training, Naruto is at a realistic level of strength at this point in time.

Hopefully all of this clears things up for you

P.S. While I don't mind anonymous reviews, I prefer signed reviews a lot more. If you have a valid criticism of my story and don't sign the review, it makes it very hard for me to get back to you and discuss how I can improve my story. Obviously, this is totally up to you. I'm just saying that signing your reviews will help me contact you so that I can understand your criticism better, thus improving the quality of my story and your general reading experience. Again, however, this is merely a suggestion.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 14 of _Naze?_, titled "Nekusuto Gekikai no Akebono".

Nekusuto Gekikai no Akebono

The roar of the crowd was, for the first time in his life, like music to Neji's ears. It was a heavenly sign that he had emerged victorious…that he had _survived_.

_I won that battle on my own_," he thought to himself pensively as he collapsed to the ground on his rump. _There was no force that was guiding me save my own will. Could I have been wrong? Can humans, weak and frail as we are, overcome incalculable odds on our own? I can think of nothing else to explain this…this feeling of individual accomplishment filling my body. _I _won. _

Neji chuckled and let his back fall against the ground with a delighted sigh. He absentmindedly pondered if the weakness in his legs was the result of exhaustion or the pent-up fear he had felt upon seeing Jinkoumaru appear out of the dark hole.

"Probably both," he mumbled to himself sleepily.

As his eyelids began to slowly fall over his pale orbs, he noticed their proctor appear out of the wall in the arena and stroll over to Jinkoumaru's downed form.

The roar of the crowd was a very effective ambience to which Neji felt himself gradually fall asleep. Or rather, he felt his body relax, which was a sensation so glorious in its pleasure that he could have lied in the spot forever.

His eyes closed completely and darkness overtook him.

A large chorus of screams and gasps suddenly slammed into Neji's ears.

_It's nothing_, he told himself pleadingly. _They're just overwhelmed with excitement. Why else would people who had once been cheering start screaming in terror?_

Silently cursing the crowd, Neji reluctantly opened his eyes and sat up.

The refinement and dignity that symbolized the Hyuuga clan was completely absent from Neji's face as he gaped in horror at the sight before him.

Jinkoumaru stood perfectly upright, his eyes blazing with crimson fury.

"You Hyuuga _bastard_," Jinkoumaru growled wrathfully. "To think that some damned Genin made me go to _Niikagi_…"

The proctor standing beside Jinkoumaru eyed the boy warily, but nevertheless asked him, "Are you capable of continuing the match?"

Jinkoumaru merely nodded, his bloody eyes never leaving Neji's.

Hayate nodded and then disappeared in a puff of smoke, clearly indicating that the match had not ended.

_But it will soon_, Neji thought hopelessly.

There was no way he could even hope to obtain victory. He had no chakra left and Jinkoumaru now had full access to what Neji was certain would be a vast reservoir of energy. How and why this happened was unknown, but it was irrelevant regardless.

_I can't win_, he acknowledged begrudgingly, _but I won't disgrace myself by surrendering. This bo—Jinkoumaru has taught me a valuable lesson and he deserves to at least demonstrate a portion of his full capabilities. But…does he outclass me so greatly? Was it Fate that I should lose? I…I don't know anymore. I need to speak with father as soon as this match is over. However, there's still something I must know._

"Jinkoumaru-san," Neji called out, slightly dismayed to find his voice so hoarse.

The boy in question narrowed his eyes at Neji just as a ray of sunlight peaked through a cloud and down onto the arena.

This revealed the entirety of Jinkoumaru's eyes and Neji was shocked to find that they had changed. The pupil had become elongated, much like a cat's or a fox's, and with the bloody hue of the irises, Neji was struck with how familiar they looked to…to…he couldn't remember.

This only served to heighten Neji's curiosity exponentially and he quickly cleared his throat with a forced cough so that he could speak properly.

"Jinkoumaru," he asked again, "may I request of you one thing before you end the fight?"

The Ame nin's wrathful expression softened fractionally, but nevertheless remained foreboding.

Taking this as a yes, Neji slowly raised himself to a standing position and then queried with as much dignity as he could muster, "Could you please tell me how you were able to stop my _Juuken_? Could you tell me why you were able to so easily manipulate my actions, why your hair has changed, and why your eyes are like that of a wild animal? In short, I-I suppose," Neji's voice faltered for a moment as he struggled to admit this shortcoming within him. He quickly overcame it and continued firmly, "I suppose that I want to know why—"

"—I beat you?"

Neji grimaced, but said nothing else.

Jinkoumaru closed his eyes and frowned, leading Neji to believe that his request had been denied.

"I have an ability," the Ame nin proclaimed suddenly, "and it gives me certain abilities that make it very easy to fight against someone whose combat tactics revolve around a device such as the Byakugan."

Neji barely noticed the majority of the crowd silence themselves as Jinkoumaru's words reached the nearest spectators and then traveled up and throughout the stadium.

"What kind of abilities?" Neji demanded, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

Opening his eyes again, Jinkoumaru stared at Neji skeptically,

"Why would I tell you?" the boy asked.

Neji felt his jaw muscles tighten.

"Because," he answered in a voice full of conviction, "I want to know what I'll be facing the next time we fight each other."

* * *

Naruto's anger cooled considerably. The fierce glint in Neji's eyes, the way his battered body suddenly seemed ready to renew their fight…How could Naruto ignore a boy with a will similar to his own?

_It doesn't matter how "determined" or "focused" he is_, Naruto thought sadly. _I can't reveal information about something as sensitive as my Kekkei Genkai. Pain and sensei would kill me. And then Konan…_

He felt a genuine shudder run down his spine at the thought of what the blue-haired woman would do to him if she found out he'd acted so recklessly. While not a hot-headed person by any means, Konan could be quite terrifying when she put her mind to it.

_Besides_, he told himself firmly, _what the hell do I owe this prick? It's not like I'm gonna fight him again anyway. But he's lookin' all determined and whatnot—and I care because? He pissed me clear off! Anko's probably laughing her ass off 'cuz I'm at _Niikag—_wait, is my hair…?_

Naruto reached a tentative hand up to his head and ran his head through silky strands of hair. Fear growing monstrously within his gut, he cast an apprehensive eye at the piece of hair between his fingers.

It was quite blonde.

_Ah hell_, he thought exasperatedly, _how the hell am I gonna explain this?_

Naruto twirled the strand in his hands unconsciously as he scoured his mind for a solution, completely oblivious to the curious and nervous stares he was receiving from Neji and the spectators.

_People are gonna wonder about this_, he thought to himself, _but is it really that big of a deal? Who cares if I've got blond—oh right…I forgot about Jiraiya. I have no clue what he did to me while I was out, but if he saw my real eye color it could pose some problems. If he did, I can't take the chance that he didn't somehow reveal it to the Hokage. _

He grimaced as he felt anxiety, which he knew was probably irrational, seize hold of his thoughts. The possibility of the "God of Shinobi" discovering his true identity was far too real for Naruto's tastes.

Knowing that he had to comment on the change somehow, Naruto quickly raced through several options. Finally, he came upon one that would successfully eliminate any curiosity about his physical changes while appearing to be a merciful answer to his opponent's question.

Smiling warmly, Naruto turned to the battered Neji and said kindly, "I have a Kekkei Genkai."

Neji's eyes widened momentarily, but quickly focused in on Naruto when he began speaking again.

"My bloodline," he continued, "allows me to see _issui_, which are the currents upon which chakra travels to move from one place to another."

"What are you talking about," Neji asked unbelievingly, despite his prior ingratiating attitude towards Naruto. Apparently, discerning the knowledge Naruto held within him was far more important to Neji than honoring the holder of said knowledge.

"Chakra," the Hyuuga prodigy continued quickly, "is the energy of all living creatures and is utilized through their will. It does not need something to move across. It can move through, around, and over anything someone wills it to do!"

"And what," Naruto demanded calmly, "is the mechanism by which someone commands chakra?"

"I've already told you," Neji answered impatiently. "By _willing _the chakra to move—something that takes years of practice for the average student—one can control it and command it to do whatever one desires."

Naruto nodded and replied, "Yes, but what is the manifestation of that will?"

When Neji stared at him blankly, Naruto continued, "_Issui_. My Kekkei Genkai allows me to see these _issui_—these manifestations of one's will and desires—and manipulate them. Endlessly they dance around me like slivers of sunlight, moving according to the wills of their 'masters'. For instance, your _issui _indicate that your mind is consumed with anger, shame, determination, and confusion."

Ignoring the red tint that came to Neji's cheeks, Naruto continued, "Another example is the man sitting in the third seat in the second row to the left of the fifteenth aisle—the one currently perpendicular to me—that is becoming very excited from what I assume is a _spectacular _view of a rather well-endowed woman lounging directly below him."

A few moments later, an indignant squeal and a humiliated yelp confirmed Naruto's statement, eliciting several chuckles from the crowd. However, Naruto noticed the anxiety of the majority of the spectators' _issui_ rise considerably upon seeing how accurate his predictions were.

The fascinated and slightly terrified _issui _of Neji drew Naruto back onto him instantly.

"If what you're saying is true," Neji began slowly, "then you can practically read people's minds—"

Naruto laughed.

"That would be awesome," he replied. "Unfortunately, that's not quite true. In fact, it's not even close. First of all, I'm not reading anyone's actual thoughts. I'm just seeing the emotions they're feeling at a particular instant. Secondly, did you notice what all of the emotions I described had in common?"

Neji narrowed his eyes thought. They soon widened in realization.

"Yep," Naruto stated with satisfaction evident in his voice despite the partial falsehood he was telling, "they were all very intense feelings. Intense enough, actually, to exude chakra, which in turn manipulates _issui_. In other words, someone has to be really, really emotional for me to see what they're feeling."

"So issui—"

"_Issui_," Naruto corrected playfully, "with a flair."

Neji frowned slightly, but nevertheless continued to ask, "So _issui _are set into motion whenever something uses a large amount of chakra and when nothing is actively using chakra, they simply dance around as the organism's will dictates?"

Naruto nodded.

"If that's the case," Neji continued, "then it must also mean that it takes an even greater amount of chakra to manipulate someone else's _issui_."

"Very good," Naruto replied approvingly. "Manipulating someone else's _issui_, or trying to use _issui _for something besides what they were intended to do, takes a lot more chakra than simply using the _issui _to enact your jutsu."

"Speaking of jutsu," the Hyuuga prodigy quickly asked, the question obviously having plagued him for some time, "can you determine the motion of someone's _issui _when they're using a jutsu that doesn't require a lot of chakra?"

"Of course," Naruto lied smoothly. "Because every jutsu requires a target, the _issui _flow towards whatever the user is aiming at."

Neji nodded with an unreadable expression on his face, eyes gazing off into the ground as he pondered Naruto's words.

Finally, the boy looked up from musings, cast a suspicious and wary eye onto Naruto, and then asked, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Shrugging, Naruto lied once again, "Because you're the first person who's ever forced me to go to _Niikagi_."

Neji stared at him curiously, to which Naruto quickly replied, "It's another step in my Kekkei Genkai."

Many in the crowd began whispering confusedly, though Naruto was slightly impressed with Neji to see recognition pass across his face.

"I've heard of doujutsu and other Kekkei Genkai containing higher levels of power," Neji responded thoughtfully, his calm voice greatly contrasting his worn figure. "What does this 'Niikagi' state do?"

"It's what allows me to manipulate _issui_," Naruto responded truthfully.

Neji frowned and countered, "But your eyes and hair were not like this at all during the match."

_Here we go_, Naruto thought with a slight flip of his stomach. _Make this as believable as you can Naruto._

"You're right," Naruto replied, "and that's because I wasn't in _Niikagi_. I went into _Niikagi _before the match and manipulated the _issui _to form a shield to surround me, thus causing the chakra in your _Juuken _attacks to slide right around my body. It's one of my greatest defenses."

_A partial truth_, he added mentally to himself as Neji's face became pale with realization, _but a necessary one. In reality, I wrapped those _issui _around me before the Exams began. It's what kept my Henge from dispelling, which was lucky because that pervert Jiraiya might've seen my true form. Though, the last part about it being "one of my greatest defenses" is complete bullshit. _

Naruto ignored the numerous "ah's" that he heard throughout the arena upon hearing his explanation and continued, "But this method has a flaw in it. Because the _issui _are flowing around my body, they prevent me from using chakra inside their shield. As a result, I can only use chakra that's outside of the shield, which obviously cuts down my supply tremendously. You, however, found a way to break my shield—"-_which I've yet to figure out how_-"—and forced me to release my pent-up chakra. This activated my _Niikagi _and brought on the changes you see before you. The eyes are a natural part of a doujutsu and the hair is the result of my body merging a little with the _issui_, which are golden in color."

While the last part about his hair was complete fabrication and a little sketchy, Naruto felt that Neji and the rest of the spectators were buying his story. Why wouldn't they? It was an explanation that told how he was able to beat Neji, yet did so without making the prodigy look like a weakling in comparison. Of course, Naruto felt Neji would have made the fight much more enjoyable had he known about his Kekkei Genkai beforehand.

"Oh that reminds me," Naruto said suddenly, "how are you still moving? I thought you were out of chakra."

Neji smiled and, ignoring Naruto's question, replied, "I must thank you for your cordiality and candidness, Jinkoumaru-san. It was a true honor to fight you and I look forward to seeing you progress further in the Finals."

At this, many in the crowd let out yells of horror, though both Naruto and Neji could clearly tell they were put on for the sake of Konoha's prodigy. Everyone had already come to grips with the fact that Neji had lost. Naruto had a small feeling, however, that they had not done so eagerly.

"Unfortunately," Neji continued, "I cannot dishonor myself by surrendering and since I am still able to move of my own volition, I can technically fight."

The boy then bent down in what had to be the most painful _Juuken _stance he'd every engaged in and waited patiently for Naruto to strike.

_You know_, Naruto thought appreciatively, _this guy isn't so bad after all. Rigid as a post, but definitely as honorable and intelligent as they come. Good match Neji._

With an elegant and rapid one-handed sequence of signs, Naruto called out softly, "_Soyokaze no Nemuri no Jutsu_."

A breeze blew across the arena floor and into Neji. The boy's eyes widened for a moment and then fluttered as the air flowed through his nostrils. And then, he slumped over, graciously and finally unconscious after a long and difficult battle.

Smirking at the peaceful look on his defeated opponent's face, Naruto made a ram sign and then muttered under his breath, "_Yuutai Henge no Jutsu_."

Just as his jutsu started to take effect, Naruto loudly proclaimed, "_Niikagi Shimekiri_."

The changes of his hair and eyes matched perfectly with the meaningless command as all bore witness to Naruto's Kekkei Genkai doing exactly as he had said it would.

His pupils reverted to their normal size and his hair became silver and spiky once again, but the strain of using his _Niikagi_ soon made itself painfully apparent. Naruto's limbs suddenly felt like great weights of iron and his head bore a startling similarity to a ship trying to sail through a storm.

"Winner: Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru!"

As Naruto was about to clutch his head to try and steady the dizziness that suddenly took hold of him, he felt his arm suddenly jerked up into the air. It was the proctor displaying him before the crowd, as if he honestly expected anyone to—

A single clap abruptly met Naruto's ears. Eyes darting around in surprise, he soon found the source of the praising motion sitting in the tallest booth in the arena.

The Sandaime Hokage was standing up from his seat with a warm smile on his face, hands softly patting each other together in respect for Naruto's skill.

The nobles, dignitaries, generals, elite shinobi, and the mass of commoners found themselves in an awkward position. On the one hand, they could turn away from the boy who had cost them all a pretty penny in gambling money and thus satisfy their anger. On the other, however, they could demonstrate their respect for the venerable Hokage by agreeing with him, as well as showing their support for a wielder of new and apparently powerful Kekkei Genkai.

Scattered strings of claps began making their way around the arena. They became more and more numerous, until the cheers became a roar of applause

_Everybody loves a winner I guess_, Naruto reasoned as his smile widened with genuine delight. _Doesn't bother me at all, but I hope they forget about the whole "me-going-crazy-thing". That could be bad. Ah hell, enjoy the moment Naruto! You've got fans waiting for acknowledgment of their meaningless and fickle adoration!_

Grinning mischievously, Naruto took a bow. The crowd cheered ever louder.

* * *

Sasuke eyed Jinkoumaru like a hawk as the boy bowed theatrically to the thunderous applause he was receiving. The screaming commoners, prodded on upon seeing the venerable Sandaime Hokage applauding the Ame nin, were but breaths of wind to him and the frantic whisperings raging throughout the Genin booth were of even less significance.

_Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru_, Sasuke thought to himself contemplatively, _why don't I believe your story? Why does your presence suddenly captivate me? Is it because you defeated Neji? Is it the startling resemblance your "second form" bore to Naruto's that makes me suspicious? Or, is your Kekkei Genkai just that fascinating? I can only find out by fighting you. I _need _to fight you._

"Is everything all right Sasuke," Sakura suddenly asked, her soft voice cutting in on his thoughts as gently as possible.

Sasuke pulled his eyes away from the waving figure of Jinkoumaru and glanced at her.

"Yeah," he replied with a hint of teasing in his voice, "but I think you asked me the same thing during the Preliminaries. You're not stalking me, are you Sakura-chan?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned away in a huff, leaving Sasuke to renew his analysis of Jinkoumaru.

Smiling slightly, he returned his attention back to the arena floor. To his surprise, he found only the medics moving Neji's unconscious form onto a stretcher. Jinkoumaru was nowhere in sight.

_Where'd he g—_

"Oi," a voice abruptly called out lazily, "Sasuke. Whatcha ya starin' at?"

Sasuke swerved his head towards the figure lying casually on the top of the balcony railing, elbow propped beneath him to support his silver-haired head. All went silent in the Genin booth, which was a stark contrast to the boisterous arena surrounding them. Everyone stared at Jinkoumaru cagily, as if expecting him to explode in bloodlust.

The Genin seemed to have forgotten that Sabaku no Gaara, a bona fide monster whose deeds easily trumped Jinkoumaru's, stood quietly within their midst. Of course, most had already suspected Gaara of being a little unhinged. Jinkoumaru was supposed to be a mere stepping stone for the more powerful Genin on the way to Chuunin-hood. What he had displayed against Neji today was…shocking, to say the least.

"Well Uchiha?"

Sasuke stared at Jinkoumaru impassively.

Smirking as if he'd just had a particular sumptuous meal, the Ame boy turned his attention away from Sasuke and onto someone else.

Jinkoumaru's crimson eyes darted around the congregation of Genin predatorily and elicited more than a few nervous glances from the targets of his gaze, until his eyes picked out someone who was apparently of great interest to him.

Sakura stared at the boy with an unreadable expression on her face, while Jinkoumaru's teammate—Anko, if Sasuke remembered correctly—merely leaned next to him and gazed out into the distance.

"Hey Anko-chan," Jinkoumaru asked suddenly, causing his teammate to glance up at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Who're you fighting?"

The girl frowned thoughtfully for a moment and then pointed a bored finger at some kunoichi standing in the crowd.

"Her," she replied simply.

Jinkoumaru apparently felt the Oto girl deserved a little more interest than Anko seemed to be giving her. He easily slid off of the balcony and began walking over towards her, his eyes containing an almost childlike curiosity.

"Stand back punk," a big Oto shinobi suddenly growled out as he pushed himself in front of Jinkoumaru and his comrade. "Just 'cuz ya beat some Konoha weakling doesn't mean—"

_Squelch_

Jinkoumaru's hand wrapped around the obstacle's throat in a blur with a sickening sound, suggesting he had drawn blood through the strength of his grip. This caused the boy to latch on to the Ame nin's unusually strong arm and gasp about helplessly like a fish out of water.

Almost every Genin in the room crouched into a battle-ready position, hands instantly gripping whatever weapon they had with them. Except for a select few, all of the Genin had one dominant emotion glimmering in their eyes: fear.

"Get out of my way," Jinkoumaru muttered with a calmness that surprised Sasuke, "or I'll rip your throat out like a weed."

The Oto could only to continue try and yank off his assailant's arm as his air supply steadily decreased.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Jinkoumaru stated in that same eerily calm voice.

With a casual flick of his wrist, the Oto nin flew to the ground with a crunch. From the small gust of current of air that the movement gave off, Sasuke surmised that Jinkoumaru had used wind to hold the much bigger boy in place and then used that same wind to throw him to the ground. Such a high degree of elemental control caused a small tinge of excitement to speed through his veins.

As the poor Oto boy writhed in a mixture of pain and relief as he frantically sucked in air, Sasuke noticed Jinkoumaru return his attention to the girl.

"I only wanted to get a glimpse of you," he remarked with a seductive drawl, "and I must say that you don't disappoint in terms of looks. It'll be a pleasure seeing Anko-chan put her knives through that pretty skin of yours. The tone of your hide will complement the blood beautif—"

"Shut your mouth freak," another Oto nin yelled out furiously, though the fear that lay beneath that anger was easily apparent to Sasuke and it was to Jinkoumaru as well.

"Oh," the Ame nin exclaimed delightfully, "another of you strong and handsome lads comes to defend the helpless damsel? How romantic!"

Sasuke heard several of the Genin—some of the more ruthless of the lot, he assumed—chuckle at Jinkoumaru's comment.

"Please stop this," Sakura suddenly shouted out to Sasuke's immense surprise. This caused many in the booth to look at her.

Sasuke immediately stood in front of his beloved friend (despite Anko's snickering) as Jinkoumaru turned towards them, crimson eyes glaring with some unknown emotion.

Before anything else was done, however, Sasuke noticed a blur enter the booth from his right and then Kakashi-sensei suddenly appeared.

The group of Genin flinched upon taking in the sight of the legendary Jounin.

"Something goin' on here?" Kakashi-sensei asked cheerfully as he lay what looked like a firm hand on Jinkoumaru's shoulder.

Sasuke noticed Jinkoumaru glare at the hand gripping his shoulder and then at its owner. For a brief instant, Sasuke thought he saw the Ame nin's eyes widen in shock when they realized who was standing above them. If it ever existed, however, it was gone in a flash.

"Nothing's wrong, Jounin-sama," Jinkoumaru replied amicably.

While the rapid change in the boy's demeanor took many off guard, Kakashi seemed unfazed by it.

"That's good," the Jounin responded happily, "because I wouldn't want to see one of you get disqualified for breaking the ru—and who might this fine gentleman be?"

Kakashi made a slight motion with his toe at the downed Oto nin, who was still sucking in air desperately.

Jinkoumaru gazed down at the boy in a disinterested sort of way and then answered simply, "A product of our violent culture, I'm afraid."

"Ah," Kakashi replied, "I see. Perhaps you would do well to try and curb the violence society has given you the next time someone pisses you off. Understand?"

From the wince that briefly appeared on Jinkoumaru's face, Kakashi's grip had apparently tightened.

"Of course, Jounin-sama," the boy replied.

Kakashi's eye crinkled upwards in his unique way and he responded cheerfully, "Good. Well then, best of luck to all you!"

With that, he disappeared in a whirl of leaves, leaving the Genin to stand awkwardly around the spot that Kakashi had vacated.

Sighing, Jinkoumaru turned away from the fearful-looking Oto kunoichi and began walking back towards Anko. He carelessly stepped over the boy he'd thrown to the ground just moments earlier, but stopped when he noticed Sasuke and Sakura's gazes upon him.

Frowning, he said quickly and genuinely, "I apologize for my behavior. I suppose the atmosphere and all got to my head a little."

He stared at them with what appeared to be embarrassment on his face, but Sasuke didn't buy it.

"We appreciate your consideration," he replied in an icy tone, "but we're fine."

Jinkoumaru suddenly smirked amusedly and shrugged.

"Fine by me," he answered carelessly.

With that, he turned around and walked away. Anko strolled beside him, her fingers periodically straying to the hilt of a kunai at her side as she kept sending furtive glances back at them.

"Who would've guessed _he'd _be a creep," Ino muttered out of nowhere as she strolled over towards Sakura and him.

Behind her trailed Shikamaru and Chouji. They gave half-hearted waves to Sakura and Sasuke and then began engaging in a conversation of their own.

"He's not a creep," Sakura reprimanded immediately. "He might just be faking to scare everyone off."

Ino rolled her eyes and retorted, "Whatever baka. The way that kid was looking at the girl over there…"

Sasuke pursed his lips as Ino shuddered dramatically.

"I get what you're saying," Sakura replied determinedly, "but something about it him seemed really friendly. It's just…I don't know."

"Whatever you say forehead-girl."

As the Genin in the room, Ino and Sakura included, started conversing about lighter topics, Sasuke silently searched out Jinkoumaru in the crowd. He found him easily, for he and Anko had been given a moderately wide berth by the people around them.

The two of them were currently chatting and snickering about something. Suddenly, Jinkoumaru's crimson orbs met his own. He instinctively activated his Sharingan and met the glare full force.

The emotions raging within those bloody eyes were too numerous for Sasuke to count, yet there was one there that Sasuke knew all too well: hatred.

* * *

**A/N****: **So this portion of _Naze? _is finally concluded. I'm really, really pleased with how many reviews the previous chapter got and would love to see that kind of feedback more often. It makes me write a lot faster (yes, I did just blackmail you). Next chapter will document Yugito's reaction to Naruto's behavior as well as what Naruto is thinking about the hostility he's created between him and Team 7. Some fights will be documented and then we'll something not commonly shown in fanfics…I think.

Looking forward to your reviews,

Oramo

_Niikagi_—"Second Key"

_Soyokaze no Nemuri no Jutsu_—"Sleep of the Gentle Breeze Jutsu"

_Niikagi Shimekiri_—"Second Key End"


	15. Moudou

**A/N****: **Hey everyone. Next chapter is finally up, but I first want to thank all of you who reviewed. It's pretty cool to see the support for my story growing like this and I'll work hard not to disappoint. This chapter will cover some of the fights and thoughts of the characters. It'll also delve into Naruto's mindset after he's revealed so much about his abilities, as well as what he thinks of why he hurt the Oto nin. Many of you have probably already noticed that I'm trying to pinpoint Naruto's character. Part of me feels that the original Naruto has to be in there somewhere; but as the story progresses, this Naruto seems to be developing into a character of his own. Discovering the solution to this dilemma will be the main point of this chapter, but there will be plenty of plot for those of you who are unconcerned with the minutia of Naruto's character development.

As for Naruto's strange behavior, I'll be the first to admit that it was out of character in the way it was presented. This chapter should make up for it (it feels like I've said that a lot…nah). I will say that I had always planned to have Naruto go through this predicament, but I will also say that I didn't lead into it very well at all. Hopefully this chapter meets all of your expectations.

Also, Danzou and the Third Hokage might seem OOC. I hope it's successful in putting across the message I want to convey.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 15 of _Naze?_, titled "Moudou".

P.S. I'm changing this story's rating to 'M' after posting this chapter. I should have done it a while ago, but I never paid it any mind.

Moudou

Silver hair hung loosely over his pale face as his crimson eyes crinkled in amusement. His clothes, his sword, his face…all of it was the same as that of the boy who'd nearly blinded her with his radiance.

"What're ya starin' at Yugito?"

She started upon hearing Kaida's voice and rapidly glanced back at her. Her movement seemed to startle her friend as well, for the girl jumped back a few inches.

"Whoa there," she muttered cautiously, "you all right?"

Yugito cringed for an instant and then put on her most apologetic smile.

"Sorry Kaida," she replied hastily. "You just scared me a bit."

She shrugged.

"Don't worry about it," Kaida responded cheerfully. "You're probably just a bit nervous from that Jinkoumaru's antics. Kid scared the hell outta me too…b-but that doesn't mean I'm scared now! Don't you fret Yugito. I'll stop that jerk if he tries to mess with ya, okay?"

Yugito smiled gratefully at her and nodded.

As her loyal teammate returned her gaze to the next set of contestants beginning their descent towards the battlefield, however, she quickly resumed looking at the Jinkoumaru.

_Is that really the same boy_, she wondered worriedly. _He seemed so bloodthirsty during the battle. And when he came back up here, he acted so…cruel. This person can't be the same. But everyone said his hair turned gold for a time, just like the boy! He _has _to be the same. But if he is, why is he—_

"Are you ready Yugito?"

It was Kaida again, but this time, Yugito didn't jump. Instead, she felt her stomach flip-flop as she was reminded of how close her match was to becoming reality.

"After this fight," her friend continued, "you're up. Just be prepared, okay? This jerk's probably a pushover, so no worries about messing up. We'll all support you no matter what and even if by some divine intervention you do happen to lose, there's still a chance you can make Chuun—you okay Yugito?"

"Yeah," she replied quickly as she felt bile rise up her throat, "just feeling a little off is all."

The palm of Kaida's hand suddenly collided with Yugito's back, causing her to squeal in shock and pain.

"Well get better _now_ baka," her friend kindly shouted. "I wanna see you cream this prick and ya can't do that if you're sick!"

Wincing as he back ached in pain, Yugito meekly replied, "Yes Kaida-chan."

Without her even realizing it, all thoughts of Jinkoumaru had faded to the back of her mind.

* * *

"_What the hell were you thinking?_" Anko asked him in a furious whisper.

Naruto winced and quickly averted his eyes from the murderous glare roaring from within Anko's pupil-less orbs. This inadvertently gave him a look of where they were in the Genin booth. It was a small corner away from the crowd of their fellow Exam takers that successfully concealed most of their bodies in shadow. When Anko had cheerfully beckoned for him to talk with her there and then proceeded to chat amicably about his actions after his victory, Naruto had been lulled into a false sense of security. That was a mistake.

As soon as the next match had started and the focus of the people surrounding them was on the fighting, she had rounded on him with the swiftness and intent of a deadly predator. Now, he stared into the ground like a scolded child, his mind once again rational…and it let him realize just how stupid he'd been.

"I needed to explain why my hair had changed," he answered meekly.

"And you couldn't have done it by making something up," she demanded angrily.

Naruto cringed.

"I was rushed," he replied quietly, "and I couldn't think clearly."

"No shit dumbass!"

The shout drew several curious stares from the crowd in front of them; but upon seeing the terrifying visage of Anko that greeted their glances, they hurriedly turned back to the battle.

"Anko," Naruto continued, easily ignoring the brief interruption, "it's no big deal. You heard what I told the Hyuuga. Most of what I said was complete bullshit. What's there to—"

She suddenly wrapped her hand through the front of his neck cover and brought him close to her face. Her warm breath washed over his face, abruptly filling his senses with the scent of sweetened dango beans. Had he not been in the situation he was, Naruto would've most likely found the smell strong and exotic.

"You told them about the _issui_ Naruto," Anko uttered gravely. "You told _everyone _about the _issui_. They're probably dozens of experts right now figuring out a way to counter your Kekkei Genkai. Do you think the leaders of the shinobi world will just let something as unique as that slip by?"

Naruto blanched, but quickly tried to dismiss it by joking lamely, "Didn't know you were so political Anko."

"Being political's got nothin' to do with it," she retorted fiercely. "It's just common sense. Speaking of 'common sense', what the hell were you trying to pull with that Oto? Huh? There's a difference between revealing some of our true capabilities for our mission and just showin' off."

She pulled him closer, causing pain to develop in the back of his neck.

"If you do shit like that again," she muttered darkly, "we'll get caught. It's bad enough that a Jounin got involved. What if they'd disqualified you? What if they'd locked you up?"

The _issui _dancing around Anko spoke of fear, anger, and unadulterated anxiety. They swarmed around Naruto as they always did, immersing him in their motion. As he watched them, his mind wandered onto what he'd been feeling when he'd told Neji about his Kekkei Genkai. It delved into the high that had raced through his body as he'd crushed his hand around the Oto nin's throat and when everyone had stared at him in awe…in _terror_.

_What am I thinking_, he wondered in an astonishingly calm manner. _Was my desire to show everyone my power that intoxicating? Surely I'm not so petty as that. Then again, I did throttle that Oto nin for no real reason. The throttling doesn't bother me so much as the fact that it drew unnecessary attention. I'll have to figure this out quickly._

"Sorry Anko," he said distractedly. "I guess it all got to my head. Won't let it happen again, I promise. Just…just don't be made, okay?"

Anko's expression softened visibly at the small plea, but she nevertheless snorted and carelessly tossed Naruto away from her.

"Whatever idiot," she replied as she leaned against the wall beside them. "Just think next time, okay?"

Naruto nodded thankfully and then took his place beside her on the stone boundaries of the booth, his mind still consumed with curiosity over his actions. This wonderment was not one of dismay or regret; rather, he was genuinely intrigued by his behavior and desired to find its source.

What had come over him and why? Was it an external entity that had been manipulating his actions, or was it simply his own desire for attention and redemption?

_So many questions_, he thought, suddenly weary from feeling the intensity of Anko's emotions, _and not enough time to answer them. How cliché. _

Dirt exploded high into the sky, abruptly showering the arena with grainy soil and rocks. Many in the crowd gasped in amazement, but were soon cut off when Hayate Gekko shouted firmly, "Winner: Sabaku no Temari!"

The Suna portion of the crowd cheered loudly, while the rest began chattering about how quickly the kunoichi had dispatched her Kusa opponent.

"That was fast," Anko commented wryly. "Maybe she'd give me a good fight."

Naruto shrugged.

"To the floor: Nii Yugito and Goro no Chijin!"

He glanced at the nervous girl with the braided blonde hair and found her to be shaking with anxiety. For some reason, perhaps a queer sense of kinship, Naruto found himself wanting her to win. At the very least, he did not want to see her get hurt.

_I wonder_, he mused to himself, _why I don't feel the same for Gaara. Is it because his behavior defines everything that "normal" people hate about Jinchuriki?_

Yugito suddenly looked up and locked eyes with Naruto, her expression one of shock. Noticing this, Naruto raised a hand in greeting and smiled cheerfully. This only served to cause a dark red tint to spread across the girl's cheeks.

Her face as crimson as a cherry, Yugito bowed her head in greeting and then started hurrying down the steps to get to her match. Her teammate stared after in curiosity as Yugito rushed past her, but quickly yelled out her best wishes just as that unmistakable blonde braid disappeared behind the corner of the stairwell.

Smirking, Naruto settled himself into a more comfortable position on the wall and closed his eyes.

* * *

Anko glanced down at Naruto and sighed exasperatedly upon seeing him in a near sleep-like state.

_He always does this when he's thinking about something important_, she mused to herself exasperatedly. _Little idiot can't do it when there's so much around him going on. I swear…_

She pushed herself off of the wall and then said in a voice loud enough for Naruto to hear, "I'm gonna watch the match. Don't do anything stupid."

He grunted.

Pursing her lips, Anko moved into the crowd of Genin, which hurriedly parted before her upon feeling the intensity of the snarl on her face. If there was one benefit to Naruto's cruel actions (besides giving her a good laugh), it was that most of the people in this booth were scared shitless of her.

_Such weakness_, she thought disdainfully. _I'd kill them all just to rid the world of it. But I can't. Not yet anyways._

Anko smiled at this and, upon reaching the edge of the booth, leaned over the balcony to get a better look at the beginning of the fight. The sight that greeted her was surprisingly interesting.

The Jinchuriki gir—Yugito (Naruto would be furious with her if he knew she was defining the girl by her "status") was currently grasping a whip composed of lightning and it seemed to be causing her opponent to falter.

The wind from Naruto's match still whirled within the arena and it blew the Oto nin's scent up into the Genin booth. Underneath the testosterone and adrenaline rushing through his veins, there lay apprehension and fear.

Anko flicked out her tongue, grinned, and then licked her lips to get as much of the delicious scent as possible.

_Yes_, she exclaimed to herself mentally, _this is gonna be so bloody! I hope she uses that one technique I spied her practicin'. That Oto nin will be cut up in so many delightful ways…_

She moaned in longing, drawing many curious and slightly disgusted stares from those around her.

_If only I could be as vicious as I desire_, Anko thought regretfully. _Naruto wasn't even being his usual blood-loving self…not for the entire match anyway. I almost wish he had been—but not permanently! I may enjoy those habits, but not Naruto. _Never _Naruto. But I wanna cut people—not in front of Naruto! I've always had my kicks in private and away from him. Not like it helps any…_

Anko cursed under her breath as thoughts of her friend's terrible addiction began to fill her mind.

_Damn it_, she thought angrily, _I'm in a bad mood now and it's all because of that idiot. Little twerp…if he weren't so darn adorable when he's slitting someone's throat, I'd beat him to a pulp. _

Her confusing (and quite hypocritical) thoughts were abruptly cut off with a wonderful sequence of sounds: an explosion, a scream, and gasps of horror.

_Ooh_, she wondered excitedly, completely forgetting her troubles, _has it started already?_

_

* * *

_

"You Kumo bitch!"

Yugito winced at the sight of saliva flying out of her opponent's bloody mouth. It only added to his unseemly visage, what was now marred with singes and cuts that were far too red for her tastes.

_Did I hit him too hard_, she wondered with a tinge of worry, despite having been insulted so terribly. _I'd get mad as well if I was burned so badly. Maybe I should go eas—no! Kaida-chan would be furious if I lost so disgracefully! I must defeat this boy as quickly and efficiently as possible so I can impress the judges. That way, if I lose to one of the really strong shinobi, I still have a hope of making Chuunin._

Yugito inhaled slowly and then sent her chakra into the katana she held firmly within her hands.

"_Rakurai_," she shouted out as loudly as she could, "_Kirisueru!_"

For the second time in the fight, Yugito's sword exploded with lightning and radiated the entire area with it glow. The glow deepened, until a bolt of lightning suddenly shot forth from the blade towards her opponent. Goro no Chijin could only gape as the lightning collided with his chest and erupted with energy.

_Is it over_, she asked worriedly. _I hope he's not de—_

As the smoke began to clear, Yugito felt a tug on the bolt of lightning shooting from her sword. Her arm lunged forward abruptly as she struggled to hold onto her weapon, but the unexpected movement completely threw off the concentration needed to maintain the attack. As a result, the lightning disappeared in a flash, revealing a dark chain protruding from the handle of her helm.

_He figured it out_, Yugito realized in shock.

Yugito's sword was actually a seal for a device that the Nidaime Raikage had created years ago. For a long time after the weapon's creation, it appeared that only the Nidaime could wield it. Then, Kirabi-sensei had come around and mastered it using the Hachibi's chakra. Brandishing it gave him a great advantage in battle, but as he grew more and more adept at implementing the Hachibi's abilities into his own attacks, he began forgoing it. When Yugito was born and the Nibi was placed within her, Kirabi-sensei was said to have given it to her as a gift, from one Jinchuriki to another.

This was the first of many things that Yugito's other sensei—the man to whom she would often go to whenever the burden of being a demon host became too much—would bestow upon her. He was, however, the oddest person she'd ever encountered. His carefree and rapping persona during normal conversation was a stark contrast to the ruthless and terrifying instructor that Yugito had come to know. Of course, the fear of Kirabi-sensei's harsh words was not enough to prevent her from using the _Rakurai _during the Exams, which he had specifically forbidden.

Before she'd left, Kirabi-sensei had told her that she was not to use any of the Nibi's powers during the Exams. Since she needed the Nibi to use the _Rakurai_, it was implied that the rule would apply to that as well. Unfortunately for her sensei, Yugito had found a loophole. It involved using her vast reservoir of chakra to manipulate the _Rakurai_ while the Nibi's chakra would be used to control it. She wasn't using the Bijuu's power to attack, but to help temper _her _attacks. Of course, this meant the _Rakurai_'s power was significantly weakened, but she hadn't thought that would matter against other Genin.

Until now, that is.

The smoke finally dissipated and it gave her the horrible sight of Chijin holding the _Rakurai_'s chain wrapped around his arm.

"The same move twice," her opponent asked as a mocking sneer spread across his face. "You don't think really think I'm that stupid, do you?"

Yugito grimaced.

"Or maybe," he continued tauntingly, "_you're _just that stupid."

In a blur of motion, Chijin grabbed the chain and pulled it towards him with a sharp tug. Yugito let out a pained gasp as she felt the _Rakurai _being ripped from her hands.

"Come a little closer, Kumo bitch," Chijin called out viciously. "I wanna get a better look at the pretty lil' face of yours!"

He pulled harder, peeling the skin on Yugito's fingers as she tried desperately to hang on. The cold black metal of the _Rakurai_ was moist with her sweat, which caused it to slide slowly through her grip with every fierce pull Chijin gave to the chain.

"_Rakurai_," Yugito began as she desperately attempted to regain her focus, "_Kirisu_—"

Chijin suddenly let go of the chain, relieving the horrendous pressure on Yugito's limbs. It was short-lived, however, for he quickly slammed his palm into the links of metal wrapped around his arm and cried out, "_Kiritori Hibiki!_"

Just as the sound of the impact reached Yugito, pain erupted within her ears. Everything became a dull roar as Yugito involuntarily released the _Rakurai_ from her grasp and fell to her knees. She opened her mouth and screamed…or she thought she did. There was no way of knowing. Everything thrummed and pounded, completely drowning out any sound from the outside world. Something was running down the side of her face through the slight gaps in between her slender fingers. Something sticky and wet.

_B-blood_, she asked herself as hysteria began taking hold over her mind. _M-my ears…they're bleeding…THEY'RE BLEEDING!_

More liquid began pouring down her face, but this time it was salty and thin. They were tears, silvery and dewy sparkles of light, that fell over Yugito's delicate countenance as her mind, reeling on the brink of trauma, sped through every horrible possibility she could imagine.

_I-I'm deaf_, she sobbed to herself mentally. _I'll never h-hear ag-gain…I'll never hear Kaida-c-chan, or Ikazuchi, o-or—_

_**Silence child**_, a calm voice suddenly commanded.

Before Yugito could fully comprehend the voice that had come unbidden into her thoughts, the world before her faded into darkness.

* * *

Forty ANBU commanders stood at attention in a dimly lit room beneath the streets of Konoha. Surrounding them were tables hewn from stone, all of which contained various scrolls of information both sensitive and insignificant. Two men stood at the head of the congregation. One was the head ANBU commander. The other was an old man wrapped in bandages that extended all the way up to his right eye. Scars from countless battles adorned his body, giving him the look and aura of true veteran of war.

"Our Lord Hokage," the old man, known as Danzou the war hawk, stated solemnly, "has ordered that Plan Fushicho begin now. He has ordered that all enemies be exterminated who are below the rank of Chuunin. If any of the participating Genin attempt to help the invaders, they too are to be eliminated. I will be commanding the operation from here, while command posts at the three predetermined locations will relay these commands and dispense orders to the smaller bases according to the immediate situation within their respective areas."

Danzou glared around the room with his single, dark eye.

"Remember," he barked abruptly, voice as cold and steely as that of the god of war, "our first priority is to get ourKonoha brothers and sisters to safety. Once they are successfully hidden within the caves, we will initiate the counterattack and destroy all enemy forces before us. Spare none save those who will be useful for interrogation."

In a growling and guttural voice, the old warrior concluded, "May the Will of Fire be with you."

The response was as thunderous and swift as the armies of Konoha that were currently assembling.

"_May the Will of Fire be with you, Commander-sama!_"

* * *

Orochimaru eyed the blood coming out of the Kumo girl's ears with vague interest. The part of him that delighted in unveiling the unknown was somewhat eager to see how the girl's Bijuu would react to the situation.

_I'll wonder if she'll kill poor Chijin_, he mused. _I do need another body for _that _ritual. It would be nice if someone else saved me the trouble. Then again, the betrayed look on most of their faces as they die is so…fascinating._

The girl suddenly collapsed to her knees, eliciting a wave of cheers from the portion of the crowd that had fought against Kumo during the war. Orochimaru repressed the urge to yawn. While he could not claim to know the innermost thoughts of the spectators within the arena when they were alone, he was fairly confident in his opinion of them when they were grouped together in such a manner.

_Insatiable lust of the mob_, he thought to himself disdainfully. _How boring._

Out of the corner of his eye, Orochimaru saw Jirobo fidget nervously. The pent-up excitement within his big body rolled off of him in waves, filling Orochimaru's fake nose with its scent.

_That's right_, he realized offhandedly, _the Invasion's to begin soon. I wonder how many of those brutish missing nin of mine will die. It would be magnificent if Sasuke could kill a few of them. My plans will go much smoother if he were to get a taste for _blood_. Yes, it will be perfect. After the Invasion, the relations of the other nations will be thrown into turmoil and I will stand untouched, with only Sasuke's fall to wait for. At the very least, I'll get to see old man Sarutobi bleed into oblivion as his frail body rests against the crimson tip of my blade._

The thought of the Third Hokage drew Orochimaru's attention, hidden beneath the mask of the Fourth Kazekage, onto the old shinobi. The curious and concerned glimmer in the man's eyes reminded the Snake Sennin of the look that had crossed the Sandaime's face upon seeing Jinkoumaru collapse onto the ground, golden hair and all. It had been an expression of pure delight.

* * *

"Y-you're the N-N-Nibi," Yugito stuttered out, terror weighing her stomach down like an anchor.

Two giant eyes, one green and the other amber, gazed down upon her impassively behind massive iron bars. Upon the bars, and right where Yugito supposed the demon's nose should be, was a large rectangular piece of paper with the kanji for "Seal" written upon it. Stones cobbled and smooth covered the floor, giving everything a gray tint. The soft patter of water falling upon the stones meant Yugito's years at a constant pace, creating an oddly serene atmosphere amidst the terror she was feeling.

_**Yes**_, the beast answered in a deep, booming voice.

Yugito felt the blood rush out of her face.

_W-what do I do_, she asked herself helplessly. _Kirabi-sensei said it took a long time for him to master his Bijuu and he's…he's _Kirabi-sensei_. What can _I _do—_

_**There is much you can do**_, the Nibi interrupted, causing Yugito's stomach to flip-flop within her chest.

"How did you—"

"—know what you're thinking?"

Yugito did everything in her power to keep her hand from shaking as the glint of a pair of giant fangs came into view behind the cage. Was the creature smiling?

_**This is your mind**_, it replied with what sounded like amusement. _**Here, your thoughts flow around you like air. Whispering constantly, they permeate the atmosphere with the emotions that lay within them and now that you are here, they are louder than ever. One would have to be deaf not to hear them.**_

Yugito suddenly and inexplicably felt guilty for disturbing the Nibi, but this quickly vanished when she remembered that the beast had absolutely no right to be able to hear her most private thoughts in the first place. In fact, it was because of this monster's existence that Yugito was a pariah in her own village. It was because of this _demon_ that her teammates and family had to fight just to get her the most basic of amenities and respect.

Glaring with rage, Yugito replied with uncharacteristic hatred, "I'm _terribly _sorry for inconveniencing you. I didn't mean to _think _too loud. Of course, that wouldn't be a problem had you not attacked my village, killed hundreds of people, and then found your wretched way into me!"

Within the shadow that covered the Nibi's face, Yugito could see the creature's eyes narrow. Warm air suddenly blew over her, nearly sending Yugito to her knees with its force.

Taking another deep and slow breath, the Nibi replied, _**Such a thing as **_**that**_** is unimportant now**_. _**You are facing death Yugito. This boy will kill you. I have experienced the agony of dying too many times to fall again so soon. Whether you like it or not, you will receive my powers and survive this battle.**_

Yugito blinked in momentary shock. Upon comprehending what the demon had just said to her, however, she immediately shouted back, "Absolutely not! I don't care what happens to me and I especially don't care about _you_. I won't disobey Kirabi-sensei and endanger the secrets of Kumo…not again."

_**Your ideals are disgustingly generic, child**_, the Nibi retorted impassively, _**and they will not change my decision. The secrets and ploys of humans mean nothing to me, and they certainly do not compare to my own need for survival. **_

Fury and hatred stormed to the forefront of her thoughts. For such a loathsome and alien thing to control her body so carelessly…

"Y-you _demon_," she screamed. "This is my mind…_MINE_!"

Another breath of wind flew over Yugito. Even in the burning rage that consumed her mind, she could tell that the Nibi was sighing.

_**It is painful enough to have to define "myself"**_, it said suddenly, _**by the limiting terms you humans have forced upon "my" kin. Please do not confine "my" existence by any more of your words. **_

Before Yugito could even understand what the thing had asked of her, she suddenly felt a heavy weight fall over her eyes.

"Wh-wha…?"

Her voice became slurred and the heaviness settled pleasantly over her limbs and chest.

_**You're losing blood**_, the Nibi explained without hesitation. _**Sleep now and allow me to guide you to the victory you deserve.**_

The anger she'd been feeling towards the Bijuu suddenly seemed irrelevant and pointless. Her head was like a balloon, rising further and further above the turmoil that her thoughts had been. A lovely warmth spread throughout her body, washing away the fiery warmth so wonderfully…

"Yes," she mumbled as her the image of her body began to fade away into darkness, "y-you do that, while I…I…I—

_**Sleep.**_

Yugito disappeared into the darkness of her own mind. The fangs of the Nibi shined from behind its cage.

* * *

Pressure abruptly slammed down upon the battlefield, creating a large crater in the ground. Standing in the epicenter of the dent was Yugito. Instantly, Naruto understood what had happened.

The inhuman pose in which the girl stood, with her arms hanging limply at her sides and her head cocked predatorily to the right, was exactly how Pain and Konan had described it to him. The shy eyes that Naruto had felt upon him weeks ago were now covered in shadow, yet their green and amber glow was unmistakable.

_I've never seen another Jinchuriki using their Bijuu_, he thought curiously as he moved up to the balcony of the booth beside Anko. _I wonder what will happen._

Yugito—or the Nibi, Naruto supposed—glanced around the area curiously as little spasms caused its body to twitch and fidget. When it appeared to be satisfied with what it had seen, it laid its eyes upon Chijin. Naruto followed its gaze and found the Oto nin to have dropped the chain of Yugito's weapon that he'd been holding. Instead of responding to the situation appropriately, he seemed content to stare in shock at his opponent as she ran her oddly colored eyes over him.

A moment later, the Nibi promptly disappeared in a blur and then reappeared behind Chijin. After a slight pause, lasting no longer than a fraction of an instant, Chijin burst into bloody pieces.

Horrified screams escaped the mouths of the civilians in the crowd, while those shinobi in the attendance began whispering rapidly to their peers and disappearing in whirls of wind to contact their superiors.

Naruto smiled unconsciously as he felt longing grow within him beautifully as he observed the crimson stain upon the ground.

_That's it_, he realized suddenly. _I…I wanted Neji to bleed. I wanted him to cry out in pain! But that's no different than usual. Well, it actually is. I've never gone against the parameters of my mission to fulfill my lust for bleeding my enemies and then guiding them towards absolution. Was it that inordinately long span between the Preliminaries and the Finals that made me like that? If so, then maybe I really am addicted. _

"I have to stop this," Naruto muttered under his breath suddenly. "I could have endangered the mission, thus endangering _Anko_. If anything were to happen to her…"

He glanced at Anko out of the corner of his eye and found her beautiful eyes to be gazing down interestedly at the battle below.

Pain, borne from the thought of losing her, gripped his chest like a vice.

_No_, he thought firmly, _I will never do anything that could hurt Anko. Not ever. But looking at the blood brings so many wonderful sensations to the forefront of my mind. I want to caress that poor child's mangled face as he pines for comfort during his dying hours. I want to comfort him as his existence, meaningless to the world, fades away into oblivion. I want him to love me for it—_

"Jinkou-chan," a brusque and sarcastic voice called out, abruptly waking him from the mesmerizing train of thought he'd begun to follow.

Glancing to his left at Anko, he found his friend double checking the straps holding her massive knives in place on her back.

"You goin' somewhere," he asked.

He saw her roll her eyes beneath her violet bangs.

"Yes, ya idiot," she replied gruffly. "My match is next."

"Ooh," he exclaimed excitedly, "that's wonderful! Put on a good show for us, won't you?"

Anko smiled in spite of the mocking tone she'd taken with him earlier and nodded in agreement.

"'Course," she answered. "Don't I always?"

Naruto nodded happily, but stopped quite unexpectedly when a new thought entered his mind.

_Anko is a vicious creature_, he mused as a growing sense of realization began to seep throughout his body. _She loves to slit the thickest, meatiest parts on a person's body so as to release all of that blood. Despite that, she hates to see me perform my ritual. Perhaps—no, it wouldn't work. But it could. It _could_. Anko never engages in the fullness of her savagery in front of me. If she could be tempted to, then she would see that my ritual coincides with her behavior and that there is no need to fret about it. _

"Anko dearest," he whispered suddenly, drawing her curious stare onto him, "could I talk with you for a moment?"

Gently wrapping his slender hand around her arm, Naruto began pulling her to the back of the booth where their voices would not be heard.

"Is something wrong," she asked worriedly.

He didn't answer until they were right up against the wall they'd been leaning upon before.

"Somewhat," Naruto replied with what he supposed was annoying mysteriousness. "I wanted to talk with you about—"

"Next match: Mitarashi Anko versus Tsuchi Kin. Both contestants please come down to the arena floor immediately."

Naruto glared at the echo of the voice resonating throughout the coliseum.

"I gotta go," Anko muttered distractedly. "Tell me after I'm done."

"I wanted to talk with you about my ritual," he spat out suddenly, fearing that he would never find the courage to address this subject again.

Anko's face darkened so quickly that anything Naruto had been prepared to say died instantly within his throat.

"What about it," she asked gravely.

Her eyes, a severe dark gold that cut into Naruto's essence, stared down grimly into his own cerulean orbs.

Averting his gaze from Anko, Naruto replied cautiously, "I want you to understand why I do it so you won't be like…this."

The gloomy aura surrounding his beloved friend now was indeed all too familiar to Naruto. The downcast expression on her face and the sadness buried deep within her eyes whenever she witnessed him "comforting" his victims had always hurt Naruto. It was just…he couldn't stop. If only Anko would accept what he did and be as happy as he was!

She frowned and replied stiffly, "I really don't think now's the time—"

"—I'll never stop," he cut in with unnatural force. "I can't stop it when it takes hold over me Anko. The idea of these creatures clinging to me, _me_…it's too tantalizing to ignore. I need them, Anko. Don't you understand?"

Anko stared at him incredulously, her eyes burning with passionate anger that nearly overwhelmed the energy that had been building within Naruto.

Face contorted in a vicious snarl, she demanded furiously, "Understand? Understand _what_? That you get your kicks off watching people plea to you as they die? Is that what I'm supposed to 'understand'? 'Cause if it is, then you can go fuck off!"

Anko's yelling drew several wary stares from the crowd of Genin, but they soon turned back to the scene unfolding on the arena floor below. Fortunately for Naruto, the actions of the Nibi-possessed Yugito were far more intriguing. He didn't want anyone but Anko to hear what he was going to say next.

His voice a strained and venomous whisper, Naruto retorted, "Then what do you call your 'treatment' of your enemies? You butcher and mutilate them until they are nothing more than a blubbering sack of meat!"

To Naruto's immense satisfaction, Anko's eyes widened in shock. Though she quickly schooled her face into an expression of indifference, Naruto could see that he'd touched upon a weak point in her argument.

"Anko," he continued determinedly, "I want you to be with me the next time I perform my ritual. In fact, I want you to be the one to perform it."

Her face paled instantly.

"What did you say," she asked in quiet wonder.

Narrowing his eyes in a mixture of fierceness and hope, Naruto repeated, "I want you to be the one to perform my ritual the next time."

Instead of becoming angry like Naruto expected she would, Anko seemed to collapse in on herself, as if surrendering to a relentless force she'd been fighting off for years.

"Naruto," she muttered to him piteously, tearing his heart in the process, "I-I know that what I do and what I tell you to do make me a hypocrite. But…but you're supposed to be…"

He winced at the vulnerability in her normally harsh and mirthful eyes.

"You're not supposed to be like…me," she continued sadly. "You're supposed to be innocent a-and pure."

Shame and a sense of failure welled up inside of Naruto as he gazed upon her miserable face. It wasn't supposed to go like this. Anko was supposed to stay her usual unyielding self, but suddenly have an epiphany and then agree with everything he had said. But this…where had it come from?

_Pure_, Naruto wondered somberly. _Innocent? What does she mean? _

The energy that had been guiding his thoughts before now took hold over him once again. The pain and despair in Anko's voice was too much for him to take.

"It doesn't matter," he said fiercely, drawing Anko's horrified gaze upon him. "We're shinobi and that forfeits our right to be 'innocent' and 'pure'. Those are the characteristics of a child, Anko. We stopped being children a long, long time ago. Yet…"

He paused for a moment in search of the right words.

"Yet," he continued slowly, "parts of us still are children and those parts can't be ignored. These parts crave more attention and love than the two of us can give each other. So, we need…we need, we need…ah! We need to find something to replace the childhood that was stolen from us! And what better way to do that than by engaging in the things we love most?"

"But Naruto," Anko countered sadly, "doing these things isn't supposed to be something we love. We're wrong in doing it and even though I'm too weak to stop myself, I'll do everything in my power to keep you on the right path."

The conviction in Anko's eyes stung Naruto like a wicked thorn.

"Do you…do you really think that about yourself," he asked disbelievingly.

For the first time in the four years they'd been together, Anko did not meet Naruto's eyes with her own.

"W-well I—"

"Anko," Naruto interrupted with unusual fervor, "you aren't like that at all. I don't care what society or that snake told you. You are worth just as much as everyone else, if not more so."

She stared at him in shock, her eyes glistening with too many emotions to comprehend.

He grabbed her limp hands with his own and smiled at her.

"Whatever we do," he said passionately, "is okay as long as we're happy doing it. No member of 'proper' society has ever followed their own rules when dealing with us, so why should we?"

Naruto placed her hands directly above her heart and then let his own fall to his sides.

"Do what you want to do. There is no right or wrong path. There is only that which makes you happy and that which hurts you."

Anko gaped at him, looking for all the world as if she wanted to say something.

"Final call for Mitarashi Anko!"

"N-Naruto," Anko tried to begin.

He cut her off with a warm smile.

"We'll talk after you kick this chick's ass," he said cheerfully.

She nodded, and then quickly turned around to start heading for the stairs. As she reached them, however, Anko turned around and gave him one last look. He nodded encouragingly in response, yet inwardly his heart fluttered.

_Please just agree with me Anko_, Naruto thought desperately as he watched her descend the steps. _Please…_

_

* * *

_

Tsuchi Kin forced herself to remain standing as the Kumo kunoichi—Nii Yugito—stalked past her. The girl's gait was that of a predator, lithe and deadly. The very air around her seemed to freeze in fear of her raw power.

Kin forced her eyes forward and down onto some random patch of grass that had survived Yugito's…what could you call it?

Her sensitive ears suddenly detected a cessation of Yugito's movement. Involuntarily, Kin's eyes flashed up at the girl. During that infinitesimal moment between her gaze moving from the ground and up to Yugito, Kin was terrified that those exotic and terrifying eyes would be looking at her. To her immense relief, they weren't.

Yugito's attention was instead focused upon a new arrival to the battlefield: Kin's opponent, Mitarashi Anko. The violet-haired girl's face, in spite of the monster eyeing her up and down like a piece of meat, was that of a troubled child. The hands clenching and unclenching at her sides only added to the distracted air Anko was giving off. In fact, she didn't even seem to be watching where she was going.

In a turn of events that only Fate could laugh at, Anko abruptly bumped into Yugito.

_Damn it_, Kin thought in terror as her fingers instinctively wrapped around the handles of her senbon needles.

Yugito cocked her head slightly, eyes gleaming with some alien emotion, and peered at Anko curiously.

"**I suppose one more couldn't hurt**," Yugito growled as she raised her hands in an obvious attacking motion.

Anko spared the bestial girl only a glance before mumbling, "Oh. Sorry about that Yugito."

Yugito's hand, its fingernails now long and sharp, flew towards Anko's torso without warning. The proctor was a fraction of a second too late to appear between the two girls and Kin fearfully awaited for Anko to burst into a million tiny pieces like Chijin had.

The claw racing towards Anko's chest suddenly froze mid-air. The fabric of the sleeve that covered Yugito's arm wrinkled abruptly, as if something was wrapped around it.

Yugito glanced at her arm curiously. A terrifyingly feline smile spread across her face within moments, however, and she asked in that same growling voice, "**Hebi?**"

Anko nodded.

"**Curious**," Yugito replied. "**Curious, curious, curious."**

Yugito's eyes suddenly reverted back to their normal color and the predatory energy that had surrounded her disappeared in a flash. She had only a moment to stare at Anko in shock, before her eyes rolled back into her skull and she collapsed to the ground unconscious. Anko stared down at her limp form, blinked, and then walked off to the opposite side of the battle zone.

As the arena exploded with confused and excited chatter, Kin tried to comprehend what had just happened. A group of medic nin rushed out and collected Yugito, reminding Kin that Anko, her soon-to-be opponent, had just knocked out a girl who'd eviscerated Chijin without batting an eye.

_What the hell am I gonna do_, she wondered hopelessly. _Help me Orochimaru-sama!_

Her plea fell on deaf ears, for the proctor turned around and announced, "Nii Yugito will be placed under indefinite watch due to her aggressive actions during a non-combat time period. The match will begin as planned. Mitarashi Anko, Tsuchi Kin: prepare to fight."

All thoughts were irrevocably cast aside. Now was the time for battle, for two warriors to face each other. And Kin was terrified.

She shakily turned around to face Anko and, to her very slight indignation, was greeted with the sight of her opponent staring off into space with eyes glazed over in thought. Normally, Kin would have made the girl her own personal senbon pincushion to teach her some respect, but she seriously doubted that she'd be able to do anything of the sort against Anko.

_But I have to try_, she thought with desperate determination, _for my Lord!_

The proctor raised his hand, silencing the crowd instantly.

"Begin," he shouted with a foreboding downwards slash of his arm. He then disappeared, leaving the fighters with the entire area as their battlefield.

Kin's hand dove into the pouch behind her back and grabbed two senbon between her fingers. Cocking her arm back with the speed of an expert, she flung the senbon through the air so quickly that the whistling sound they made almost drowned out the ringing of the bell that was attached to one of them.

The needles were less than a foot away from Anko's chest before they suddenly stopped mid-air and then crushed in on themselves. Anko didn't even seem to notice.

"What the hell," Kin exclaimed incredulously. "How did you—"

"Shut it," Anko interrupted out of nowhere. "I'm tryin' to think and I can't do that with you jabbering on like some idiot."

Kin felt anger roar up into her mind like a forest fire. Whether it was out of mere indignation or bred from the desperation of her terror, she had no idea. She only knew that she was angry and wanted to lash out at Anko.

"You arrogant bitch," she snarled furiously. "How about I cut that cocky tongue of yours out, huh? What about that?"

Anko blinked, but otherwise made no other sign that she had heard Kin.

The fear and sheer horror that had dominated Kin's thoughts after seeing the display of power so casually put on by Yugito, a meek pussy if there ever was one, and Anko, some Ame nobody, became fuel to the fire of Kin's ire.

She screamed out frantically, "You'll die, scum!"

With three senbon in each hand, Kin cocked her arms back and then flung them at Anko in one rapid whipping motion.

"_Kaze Senbon no Jutsu_," Kin cried out.

Dozens upon dozens of tiny needles appeared beside and around the originals, forming a wall of black darts.

_It has to get her_, Kin thought desperately. _It has to!_

Anko's eyes widened at the sheer number of incoming projectiles, causing Kin's hopes to soar. The black mass soon swarmed around Anko's body and then passed through it, leaving a cloud of dust upon hitting the ground that was too thick to see through.

"Please let me have got her," Kin whispered to herself. "Please, please, please, please…"

A breath of wind blew the dust away, revealing the incalculable number of senbon littering the ground. The clones disappeared with a loud _poof_, leaving the original six senbon scattered across the area. Anko was nowhere in sight.

Terror spread its horrible tendrils throughout Kin's body, gripping her heart in a painful vice as she frantically swerved her head around to find her enemy.

Something hard suddenly slammed into her chest, sending her to the ground in an undignified heap.

"Uh…uhhh," Kin gasped in a desperate attempt to refill the air that had been so violently taken from her lungs.

Above her stood Anko, who was casually twirling one of her massive black knives by the ring attached to the end of its handle. Her pupil-less eyes were still glazed over in thought. The shadow of her body covered Kin ominously, yet the expression on Anko's face could not have been more naïve or innocent.

She muttered something, but it was spoken at a volume too low for Kin to hear.

_Wha—what did she say_, Kin wondered despite the mind-numbing pain that racked her body.

A moment later, Anko muttered something again and this time, Kin heard it quite clearly: "Do what makes me happy…what makes me happy…what makes _me _happy…what makes me happy?"

Kin didn't know how to answer her, but she didn't have to.

"I want," Anko began, apparently in answer to the question she had just posed, "to fight people and then kill them. That makes me…happy."

The terror in Kin's chest grew exponentially.

_She's insane_, she exclaimed mentally. _S-she's goin' to kill me! I've got to get away! I've got to—the Proctor!_

"Proctor, I surre—"

The icy cold tinge of metal exploded into Kin's throat, drowning her words in blood and flesh.

Cold realization crashed upon Kin like an ocean wave. She knew what had happened. She knew what was going to happen. The thing that she had run from for her entire miserable existence, the thing whose presence had driven her to survive everything life had thrown at her—from the myriad orphanages she'd lived in to the wretched life on the streets that Orochimaru-sama had saved her from—had finally caught up with her. Death loomed over her like a shadow that needed no sun and she could do nothing to stay its cold hand from wrapping around her.

"Y-yes," a voice trembling in revelation and happiness suddenly said.

Kin's eyes unconsciously locked onto the speaker, Anko. Her opponent's beautifully pale face was besmirched with a multitude of red dots and her golden eyes shook with delight.

"This is what I want," she continued, her voice still one of wondrous awe. "N-Naruto…you were right forever. I don't have to shield you from the world. We can make our own world, where we'll be loved forever."

Anko looked up towards the Genin booth, took a deep breath, and then raised her blade to deliver the finishing blow. Many in the crowd shouted out for the proctor to stop it. The proctor responded by declaring Anko the winner and emphasizing the point that any further acts of violence would be grounds for disqualification.

Had Kin the breath for it, she would have sighed in exasperation. There was no way in heaven or hell that the manic girl standing over her now would stop.

Kin suddenly felt a warm tingle run down her cheek.

_Tears_, she thought as the blood continued to pour out of her and onto the ground. _I'm cryin'. But why? What's the point?_

A delighted giggle drew Kin's attention. Anko was still raising her blade to kill her. Sympathy, heavy and sad, suddenly formed a weight in her stomach.

_How can I feel sorry for this maniac_, Kin thought with the vaguest sense of incredulity. _Aren't I supposed to hate her for killing me? Aren't I supposed to loathe her for laughing at my weakness and taking pleasure in my demise? Why…Why do I feel sorry for her?_

A light, more glorious than the sun, and a darkness, more beautiful than the night, suddenly erupted within her mind. She had the answer to her question. She knew why she pitied Anko and it made her pity everyone. The answer, it was—

Cold steel sliced into Kin's chest. All thoughts, emotions, and wonders ended instantly. The life faded from Kin and she was dead. Her muscles seized, her lungs stopped their frenzied pumping, and her mind, once radiant with millions upon millions of thoughts flying through it, now became dark and empty. Kin was dead and kneeling above her was Anko, laughing her heart out.

* * *

He pursed his lips disdainfully as he watched Kin's chest ripped apart by Anko's knife.

_I'll have to find another body then_, Orochimaru thought. _Still, it was quite amusing to see my dear Anko fighting again. And Shinja has gotten so large. What a reunion this is!_

Resisting the urge to chuckle at his own joke, Orochimaru returned his attention to the fight. The proctor was moving towards Anko in a very rapid and threatening manner.

_Oh dear_, he realized, _I can't have my sweet pet disqualified so soon. Her closeness to Jinkoumaru is too real to ignore. Besides, she's far too entertaining to take out of the battles now. _

"Hokage-san," he said in his politest voice possible, "I do not wish to see this girl removed from the Exams so quickly. While her brutality is saddening, I cannot help but view it as a sign that Ame is finally taking steps towards improving the quality of their ninja. They have been little better than a liability to us in the past, yet if they had more nin of this girl's caliber—barring her insanity, of course—they would be a much greater help to us in securing our post-war dominance of the continent. We should not punish that."

Orochimaru's old mentor turned towards him with a somber look on his face and replied simply, "I cannot stand to see children manipulated and darkened in such a manner. This is exactly the type of behavior we do _not _want to see. This reminds me of that barbaric practice that was held in Kiri all those years ago. It's unfathomably cruel."

A chorus of boos suddenly drew Orochimaru's attention away from Sarutobi and down to the arena.

The proctor had grabbed Anko and was forcibly dragging her away. The girl wasn't struggling, however. Instead, she seemed content to stare happily at Kin's mutilated corpse.

Orochimaru supposed that the crowd was booing her for the savagery she'd displayed. However, there was something he noticed about the crowd members who were actually booing: the vast majority of them were from nations that had been a member of the alliance opposing the Konoha-Suna-Kiri coalition, which meant that they no doubt despised Ame for its role in stalling the Iwa forces from invading Konoha during the initial phase of the war.

Smiling thinly behind the mask that covered his body's face, Orochimaru renewed his argument by commenting, "How powerful a message it would be to our enemies if we were to support Ame's new practices. No doubt the other nations are already scrambling to figure out just exactly how Ame has produced Genin with so much potential. If we were to support Ame's advancement, then perhaps it would let our rivals know how serious we are about maintaining our supremacy."

The Hokage frowned as the smoke from his pipe, which rested firmly upon the stone handle of the old man's chair, drifted lazily into the air.

"That would only embitter them against us," he countered calmly, "don't you think?"

Orochimaru shook his head and replied, "On the contrary, I think it would make them fear us. It would let them know that we are constantly looking to expand and improve."

The Hokage stared evenly out into space for a long time, leaving the question posed to him unanswered and forlorn.

Finally, he replied, "Very well, Kazekage-san."

The old shinobi made a motion with his hand. The proctor dragging Anko away immediately halted and then released his charge, letting her fall unceremoniously to the ground on her rump.

"It has been decided that Mitarashi Anko's actions were not in violation of the Exam rules," the Proctor shouted out to the arena. "Therefore, she will not be disqualified and her name will be thrown into the raffle for the next round."

The crowd's reaction was immediate. A huge roar of indignation erupted from the spectators, while the foreign dignitaries, royalty, and shinobi within the arena frowned and whispered to each other conspiratorially.

Indifferent to her surroundings, Anko stood up and stared at Kin's corpse for a moment. She then smiled and walked out of the arena.

As the crowd's angry catcalls and jeers filled the stadium, Orochimaru leaned back in his seat.

_Now what, I wonder, am I to do with Jinkoumaru_, he thought to himself. _Given that my sweet, sweet Anko is now an Ame nin, she must be close with the boy. Otherwise, Pain would have killed her on the spot, for he no doubt recognized her from my Akatsuki days. If he would willingly allow one of my former subordinates to operate so close to his base of operations, then it tells me at least two things about Jinkoumaru: one, he and Anko are quite close; two, Pain values Jinkoumaru enough to assent to his will. I will need to test this hypothesis, of course. Anko's Curse Mark should still be working and since she never mastered it, activation will more than likely cause her to fall unconscious. _

Orochimaru thoughtfully tapped one slender finger against the top of his seat.

_Supposing I activate the Curse Mark during Anko's next match_, he wondered hypothetically._ If I am correct, Jinkoumaru will leap in to save his dear friend and possibly show more of his Kekkei Genkai's abilities in the process. Though, this will only serve to draw more attention to him than necessary. That could be a moot point, however. Beating the prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan certainly paints a target on one's back. And if Jinkoumaru truly does care about Anko, I could use her to force him to join me. Then I could study his Kekkei Genkai without any more distractions._

Myriad plans and questions began formulating within Orochimaru's mind.

Could he take over Sasuke's body and then observe the effects of Jinkoumaru's Kekkei Genkai with the Sharingan? Or what if it was the other way around? The _issui _Jinkoumaru mentioned could reveal so many different things about the Sharingan and how it works.

Suddenly, the grand Invasion that Orochimaru had spent months preparing for seemed inconsequential to him now. While destroying his former village would be gratifying, his real reason for coming to the wretched place was to obtain Sasuke's body. Now that he had another specimen to study, something as petty as vengeance could be quite easily discarded for the time being.

_A sweeter apple dost lay upon the tree_, he reasoned poetically. _Konoha's destruction is a secondary goal. The Invasion will be postponed until I discern the true nature of Anko and Jinkoumaru's relationship. After that…_

A mighty wave of shouts drew his attention back to the outside world. Another match had begun and the crowd had already forgotten about Anko in the excitement brought on by the appearance of fresh blood.

Excitement coursing throughout his fake body, Orochimaru smiled in anticipation.

* * *

Naruto grinned wolfishly when Anko sprinted up the stairs, rushed through the frightened crowd of Genin, and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug.

"_It was incredible_," she whispered into his ear happily.

Anko released him and grinned, radiating her face and all around it like starlight.

Naruto smiled back, though he stopped when he noticed how close his face was to Anko's chest. It sent a warm and pleasant feeling throughout his body that he was wholly unfamiliar with.

"Is something wrong?" Anko asked.

Naruto shook his head.

"N-no," he replied, "just happy to see that you're okay with…y'know."

Anko nodded gleefully.

"I am, I am," she nearly sang. "I understand everything that you were saying. You're right, Naruto. Doing that—"

"You sick freak!"

Naruto swerved his head around behind him to find a Genin glaring at Anko and him. His hitai-ate was obscured underneath the shadow of the booth, but Naruto thought he could make out the outline of a Konoha symbol imprinted onto the metal.

The Genin narrowed his green eyes at them in disgust.

"That girl's dead 'cause of you," he continued vehemently, "and all you can do is laugh about it?"

Anko smirked and replied, "Kinda. I mean, she did sorta fall over funny when I smacked her in the head."

Several Genin throughout the crowd snickered appreciatively.

Naruto smirked at Anko's unexpected supporters for a moment and then expanded on his dear friend's remark, saying, "Listen friend, you're probably not used to killin' and all since you're from one of the big Nations. That's all well and good. You're leaders could afford to protect your 'innocence' or whatever."

Many of the Genin Naruto had referred to glared at him dangerously, while those that were part of the smaller villages chuckled.

Naruto shrugged and continued, "Our leaders couldn't afford to do that, understand? While you all were playin' at bein' ninja, we were actually out there get our hands dirty…or bloody, as it were. That may have been the war of the Five Great Nations, but it was us that did all the work."

Murmurs of approval raced throughout the portion of Genin from lesser nations and a tinge of apprehension suddenly appeared in the boy's green eyes. Naruto smiled menacingly at him.

Though he hadn't actually killed during the war, Naruto felt he'd more than made up for it in the years following it. Besides, this punk needed to pay for interrupting Anko. Perhaps a little—

_Whoa boy_, Naruto stopped abruptly. _You did this last time and nearly got yourself thrown out. Don't take this too far._

Nodding to himself mentally, Naruto morphed his smile into a condescending smirk and then waved his hand at the boy like he would a fly.

"Save your speeches for another time," he said mockingly. "Until you've killed a few people, you ain't got nothin' to say anyways. Otherwise, someone who does know what they're doin' might take offense…got it?"

Someone suddenly stepped up besides Naruto and glared at the group of Great Nation Genin behind the green-eyed boy. It was a tall and slender Kusa nin. His hitai-ate was wrapped over his left eye and the swaths of light fabric did little to conceal his lean and muscular physique. The large sword strapped to his back was made only larger by the fact that the boy was, though one of the tallest of the Genin, only an inch or two taller than Anko.

"I agree with the Ame brat," he said with a vicious smirk. "You kiddies don't have no reason to act all high and mighty here, seein' as your sensei's ain't here to protect you no more."

"What ya talkin' about Ryoushi?" someone on Naruto's side of the crowd asked.

Naruto blinked. Somehow, two sides had formed in the booth. One that stood behind Naruto and Anko, representing the Genin from the lesser Nations, and the other in front that was comprised of Genin from the Great Nations.

_This could get fun_, he thought hopefully, though he quickly added, _but not too fun._

"I'm talkin'," the Kusa nin, apparently named Ryoushi, replied, "'bout how these punks were with their sensei's the whole damn time they fought."

"How dare you insult me _Kusa_," the green-eyed boy shouted out angrily.

"You serious?" a girl to Naruto's left asked, completely ignoring the boy's anger. "They was never by themselves?"

"Never."

For a second, the lesser Nation Genin stared at their counterparts incredulously. And then, they burst into uproarious laughter. The green-eyed boy's face became flush with embarrassment and anger, as did most everyone's on his side of the booth.

Grinning, Naruto made a slight beckoning motion with his hand at Anko and then began gently pushing his way to the back of his crowd. When they reached a secluded spot, he turned to her and asked, "You were saying?"

His grin grew wider when Anko snorted.

"You're such a little shit," she commented with a chuckle. "What the hell would I do without ya?"

"Probably slaughter whole villages in search for something to fill the void in your life created by my absence," he answered matter-of-factly.

She bopped him on the head playfully, earning a small yelp from him.

Smiling, Anko replied, "Suuuure. Oh and all I was sayin' earlier was that I think I'd…um, be willing to do your ritual. I mean, I'd still feel really, I dunno, odd? Yeah, odd. I mean, I guess I still have this image of you as that kid who…ah, this is too emotional."

He smiled warmly at her.

"It's okay," he said. "It's supposed to take time. You just have to understand that you can be yourself around me."

"What the hell are you talkin' about," she demanded angrily. "I'm always 'myself', especially around you."

"No you're not," he countered persistently. "At least, you're never yourself when we're killing. You put on a good show for me, but I can tell you're holding something back. Something savage and feral that's dying to be released. You don't need to do that for me. Whenever you kill someone in front of me, you try to make it as quick as possible. I can tell that you really want to do something more, like what you just did to that girl. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Anko cringed, but nodded nonetheless.

"Yes," she replied quietly and reluctantly. "But it'll take time, Naruto. I can't just my feelings in the blink of an eye. Can you just let me do this at my own pace?"

Naruto felt a little sadness tinge the happiness he'd been feeling, but he completely understood what Anko was saying. It was only natural, after all.

"Of course," he answered happily. "I'm just glad you're beginning to accept it. For now, let's just relax and watch these idiots kill each other…after which, we ourselves will put our lives on the line to please the bloodlust of thousands of people we don't know or care about."

"That's nice," Anko commented dryly. "Real optimistic."

He chuckled. Not only at her joke, but at everything. The arena, the crazy spectators, the yelling Genin, the dry smell of blood and dust wafting off of Anko, the temperate air that blew across the stone foundation of the stadium and carried the delightful odors of meat and sweets up into his nostrils…everything.

"Next match: Sabaku no Gaara versus Anei Hokori."

"Gaara will tear that kid to shreds," Anko exclaimed gleefully. "Ooh, this'll be amazing!"

Naruto smiled. For now, life was perfect.

* * *

Quivering and sweating fear, made tangible by the rapid expansions and contractions of the chest. Eyes locked wildly onto him, but quickly ran away when they saw that he knew. The hands shook and the Adam's apple bobbed up and down frantically.

Gaara watched his prey with thinly veiled anticipation.

Would it scream? Would it beg for its life? Mother liked it when they begged. She praised and loved him when he made them cry. So many nights, when he lay awake and alone in fear of the darkness of his mind, Mother would wrap her grainy hands around his body and hold him close to her bosom. Her love filled him whenever he ended life. It was strongest with Suna nin. Oh how mother _loved _killing Suna nin.

_Anei Hokori_, Gaara thought lustfully, _you will make Mother very hap—_

"I FORFEIT," Anei Hokori screamed.

Gaara's eyes widened.

"Anei Hokori," the proctor shouted quickly in response, "you have proclaimed your desire to forfeit your match and be disqualified from the Exams. Is this your decision?"

"YES!"

"Very well," the Proctor uttered, though his voice was drowned out by the great wave of boos that crashed down upon the arena floor from within the crowd. "Anei Hokori is hereby disqualified from the Final Exams and removed from all consideration for Chuunin status. Sabaku no Gaara shall move on—"

Gaara took his head within the writhing grasp of his hand.

_I'm sorry Mother_, he moaned to himself piteously. _I'm sor—IT HURTS, MOTHER! —_

Pain had erupted within his head in the form of a raging thunderclap banging against his skull. Mother was not pleased. He desperately wanted to make her happy, to make her love him. Though the pain would go away, it was the absence of her love that truly ripped at his insides. There was only one thing that would make Mother love him and it had just been taken away.

The throbbing suddenly bloomed into an explosion of misery and Gaara, fighting between a monstrous mixture of crushing his head beneath his hand and gasping in pain, could only discern one visible and clear thought in his mind:

Someone—anyone—had to die…and they had to die now.

* * *

**A/N****: **It's been a long time since I've updated and I'm really sorry about that. I hope this chapter makes up for some of it. The ideas presented in this update are pretty cool in my opinion. I really wanted Anko to be okay with Naruto's behavior and I think she will be, at least eventually. The argument Naruto is using to sway her is actually hedonism: "Do everything you can to maximize pleasure and minimize pain", "there is only what makes you happy and what makes you sad"—that kind of stuff. It actually has a lot of similarities with utilitarianism. It's my sincerest hope that Naruto's argument for convincing Anko to be okay with his ritual is realistic.

The whole thing with Anko blocking Yugito's attack and Yugito passing out afterwards is not some anti-Bijuu power Anko has. Yugito's body, which wasn't in her full Bijuu state, simply couldn't stand using the Nibi's power for too long.

I've kind of altered Orochimaru's character to be somewhat less…villain-ish. He's a sociopathic killer, to be sure (no offense to sociopaths), but he's not going to be as sinister and diabolical as in canon. I can't help but think of Lloyd from Code Geass whenever I'm writing from Orochimaru's perspective. I'll have to see where it goes.

I thank all of you for your reviews and helpful pointers on my story. As always, I crave reviews and constructive criticism, so be plentiful in both when the need to comment on my story takes a hold of you.

Oramo

_Invasion occurs, but not at Orochimaru's command. Instead, he fights against his own missing nin while still under the guise of Kazekage and commands the Suna nin to fight under his command. He then slips away to collect Sasuke, but not before Sarutobi, having known it Orochimaru all along, attacks him and manages to mortally wound his host body. Enraged, Orochimaru flees and desperately begins searching for someone to heal his body so that he can take over Sasuke. He immediately thinks of Tsunade and begins searching for her. _

_Kiritori Hibiki_—"Cutting Echo"


	16. Yuusen no Issen

**A/N****: **I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter. Things will be picking up now, but not in a way anyone would anticipate…I think. This next chapter should set the stage for a lot of stuff that's going to happen and the end result might make many of you worried. Therefore, I'll give you all a preemptive "Trust me". That actually won't be necessary for this chapter, but I like to be cautious.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 16 of _Naze?_, titled "Yuusen no Issen".

Yuusen no Issen

Wind rattled the leaves of the trees like the heads of kodama. The plopping of acorns falling from branches provided a tranquil background, leaving any whose ears might have been graced with the sounds filled with a sense of peace and happiness. Unfortunately, for the hundred or so Iwa missing nin hiding within the forest, a peaceful ambience was not what they wanted.

Zatsu Kiriishi grimaced as a flower petal gracefully landed on his scarred left hand. He flicked it off with a brusque wave and grunted to signify his displeasure. How he hated flowers, or any plant life for that matter. The mountains were his home, where the air was dry and cool. This moist air here—plant air—made him sweaty. Not the good kind of sweaty, mind you, where you had this pleasant warm feeling in your gut after doing something active. This was the kind of sweaty that itched and dripped everywhere for no reason at all.

"Oi Zatsu," someone suddenly called out.

Zatsu glanced over his shoulder and found one of his fellow missing nin, Shinku, grinning at him in that half-savage, half-playful manner only he could pull off.

"What," he demanded gruffly.

"Looks like the fun's about to start," Shinku replied gleefully. "Boss man musta done somethin' special, 'cuz there's screams comin' up from ol' Sakura."

Zatsu couldn't help but grimace beneath he bandage the covered his left eye. "Ol' Sakura" was some stupid nickname Iwa nin had used for Konoha during the beginning of the war when they'd advanced right to the golden city's border and had been about to swoop in…or at least until those accursed Ame nin had shown up. Nevertheless, the Iwa shinobi who had managed to survive the ambush forever remembered the horribly awe-inspiring sight of the trees of Konoha made crimson with the blood of their comrades. The moon that had shone down upon the bloodied leaves had made them look like sakura trees, or at least they had looked as such when one was in shock.

From then on, Iwa veterans had begun referring to Konoha as "old Sakura", partially in honor of the memory of their comrades who'd died that day and partially to keep alive the fire of vengeance that burned within their hearts. Zatsu and Shinku, before they'd went missing nin after the war, had been a part of the small group of Iwa who'd survived. Because of that, the stupid, stupid nickname brought up all kinds of memories.

"Bein' underneath these fuckin' trees does bring me back," Zatsu admitted in his deep voice.

Shinku's grin faltered a bit, but any sadness that he might have felt was soon replaced by eager fury.

"Yeah," he responded, "but this time, it'll be them that feel our blades on their friends' throats. And we'll get paid pretty well too."

They both chuckled, but a keen observer would have seen pain apparent deep within their eyes.

"Le's go, eh Shinku?"

"Ya Zatsu. Round the boys up fer me, wontcha?"

"Sure thing."

Zatsu cupped his hands around his mouth and roared, "AYUMIKATAAAAA!"

The response was as magnificent and immediate as lightning.

"HAI, HAI, HAIIIII!"

Three hundred Iwa missing nin—most of them former members of the army and all of them as strong and steadfast as the last—began their march towards the mighty Village Hidden in the Leaves. To them, however, they were marching towards ol' Sakura, the source of their greatest sadness and shame.

* * *

_Several minutes earlier_

Gaara's insides flipped and swerved within him. Nausea, accompanied by a headache that all but blinded him, made him want to tear his brains out. It was only worsened by the shouting behind and around him. The screams of the spectators as two shinobi fought it out in the arena and the righteous shouts of the genin, divided into two furious groups behind him, only made this pain—_his _pain—all the more horrible.

He clawed at his throbbing skull like a starving animal would a corpse, but the pain was relentless. The people around him—the Uchiha and his pretty pet girl watching the shouting going on in the booth with disdain on their faces, other genin laughing wickedly or cringing in embarrassment, Jinkoumaru giving off that strange and familiar aura, Temari and Kankuro eyeing him with that same, wretched, miserable, _damnable _fear—all of them blurred into a menagerie of colors and feelings.

He wanted to scream, but who would hear it? Mother? No, she was the one doing this to him. If not Her, then whom?

Mother was hurting him again. Mother always hurt him whenever she was angry. Why couldn't she just be happy with him, like that night all those summers ago when he lay outside in the sand underneath the cool moon and the desert scorpions skittered around him in that way which had delighted him as a child? When she wrapped him in her arms and he felt a loving, tender touch for the first time…

_**I will bring you that My darling**_, Mother's hauntingly beautiful voice told him, abruptly breaking into his thoughts. _**Bring Me that sweet, sweet nectar and I will love you more than ever.**_

"But why Mother," he growled, no doubt terrifying his wretched siblings, "why can't you just love me? Am I not worthy of it by myself?"

The answer came immediately.

_**No**_, She replied, _**you are not worthy of My Love. You must earn it. You must always earn it. But that does not mean I do not care for your existence. You must survive so that you can feel My Love. Kill. Kill everyone around you, so that you will always be safe and with Me. When they are all dead, you will be worthy of life…and of Me.**_

Gaara forgot his resentment instantly. Mother had taught him that Her words were always right, always truth. How could he ever think of doubting Her? He deserved to be punished, to be ignored by Her forever.

"But Mother is kind," he whispered to himself, as if in revelation. "Mother wants to love me. She wants me to survive. Yes, I remember now. I must exist. I will never stop existing and if anyone threatens that…I'll crush them with Mother's loving hand!"

He felt Temari and Kankuro's terrified eyes on him, but he didn't care. Never before had he felt such purpose, such drive! Not since he killed Yashamaru did he feel so in tune with Mother's Will!

A giggle, childish and disturbing, escaped from his mouth. The pain was gone. It was all, all gone!

Gaara reached around and undid the stopper on his gourd.

"What are you doing Gaara," Temari asked fearfully, the cracks in her voice revealing her dread to the world.

"It's not time for the Invasion yet," Kankuro whispered to him in what was supposed to be an angry way, but only served to convey the puppet user's terror.

"If you get in my way," he replied, the demented smile that had spread across his face now disappearing beneath a focused glare, "I'll kill you."

Temari and Kankuro recoiled, their fear oozing off of them in waves.

Sand exploded out of the gourd and into the booth. It passed through the crowd of genin, eliciting a wave of screams. Gaara paid them no mind. They were not his targets yet. He wanted to kill the fighters, where all in the arena could see him glorying in his own existence.

The sand swirled around Gaara and he disappeared within it. It shot down into the arena in between the two combatants.

* * *

"What the hell is this, Proctor?" one of the contestants, a long and gangly Kiri nin, shouted angrily as Gaara flew through the air in his sand.

"Yeah, get it the hell out of our way," the other combatant yelled.

Gaara landed in between the two and the sand around him swirled away, exposing him to all of the spectators in the arena. The massive audience exploded with chatter as Gaara watched the Proctor walk towards him.

"Sabaku no Gaara," the Proctor began sternly as his hand rested on the hilt of his sword, "you are not allowed onto the arena floor until your allotted match. If you do not leave immediately, I will be forced to—"

With a careless flick of Gaara's hand, a fist of sand slammed into the Proctor's chest and pummeled him into the arena wall. Horrified screams filled the air as two more sand tendrils exploded from within the gourd and grabbed the two fighters. They shouted and thrashed in a furious attempt to escape, but the tendrils soon began tighten around their limbs. They started screaming.

Gaara scowled as they begged for mercy.

"Your blood will not make Mother happy," he growled. "How annoying."

He raised his hand with the palm facing towards his captives. The crowd was shouting and shrieking so loud Gaara couldn't make out what they were saying. Not that he cared.

"_Sabaku_," he uttered darkly, "_Sousou!_"

The sand swallowed the pleading genin within its grainy depths. Gaara clenched his fist and the grainy coffins crushed the two fighters into a bloody pulp with a sickening _crunch_. A great cacophony of screams erupted from the crowd as shinobi rushed onto the field.

Gaara withdrew his sand and observed his incoming enemies.

"Mother will be very pleased with your deaths," he commented as his sand once again shot out to grab someone. It quickly wrapped around the leg of an incoming attacker and crushed the bone to dust. "And then, She will love me forever!"

* * *

Sakura gently tapped Sasuke's shoulder to let him know that he could let go of her. Sasuke, having tackled Sakura to the ground and shielded her with his body when Gaara's sand exploded into the booth, quickly obliged and removed himself from her.

"Are you all right?" he asked concernedly, his dark eyes flying over her body in search of any injuries.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Sasuke's face relaxed visibly, but it quickly became stern again when the unmistakable sound of screams suddenly reverberated throughout the booth. He stood up and peered over the edge down onto the arena floor. Though Sakura couldn't see what was going on from her position on the ground, the look on Sasuke's face, unreadable to all save her and Kakashi-sensei, was one of despair.

"What's wrong Sasuke-kun," she asked, firmly trying to keep the worry about of her voice.

Without looking at her, he replied, "Gaara's attacking."

Sakura immediately stood up and glanced over the edge of the balcony's booth.

She began to ask, "Attacking wh—"

The site of several Konoha Chuunin lying dead around Gaara answered her question.

"Everyone," Sasuke said, giving voice to the obvious. "He's attacking everyone."

The spectators in the crowd were a jumbled mess, all of them screaming and jostling to escape the arena. Sakura could see Konoha nin scattered throughout, hurriedly trying to calm the mob down. The noise of it all was deafening and was punctuated with great explosions of sand and blood from Gaara's battle.

"Why aren't they doing anything," Sasuke asked suddenly.

"Who?"

Sakura squinted at the spot where Sasuke pointed to and found herself looking at a large group of foreign shinobi leaders standing still as the crowds swarmed around them. They made no indication that they desired to help their Konoha "comrades" in any way. In fact, they seemed far more concerned with debating with each other in what appeared to be a rather fierce fashion.

Sakura looked around frantically for any signs of support. Where were the Suna and Kusa nin? The Kiri and Ame nin? Where were their allies?

A firm hand grasped hold of her shoulder. She had a kunai against the person's crotch in the blink of an eye, but her caution was unnecessary.

"While, as your teacher, I'm quite pleased that you managed to react to unexpected physical contact so quickly," Kakashi-sensei began, his eye showing cheerfulness despite his precarious situation, "I would greatly appreciate you removing that pointy object away from my…me."

A blush as red as cherries burst across Sakura's face and she quickly moved her kunai away from Kakashi-sensei.

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei," she apologized. "I just—"

"There's no need Sakura," he cut in kindly. "I understand. What's important right now is to get all of the genin out of here."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow.

"Why can't we stay," she asked skeptically. "Surely Gaara isn't that much of a threat."

"He's not," Kakashi-sensei responded, "but you know how Hokage-sama feels about children getting in the thick of things."

Sakura could feel the anger flood off of Sasuke. Honestly, she couldn't bring herself to disagree with him. Jinkoumaru's taunting had touched upon a soft spot that had plagued the genin of Konoha for years. They, who were supposed to be shinobi, had never ended another's life.

"Let us fight, Kakashi," Sasuke demanded calmly. "I can tell those aren't real Chuunin. Obviously, that must mean this Gaara's not as strong as he looks. Let me kill him."

Sakura stared at Sasuke incredulously and then hurriedly looked over the balcony down onto the arena floor. The bodies of the Chuunin looked just like any other dead body she'd seen during the war. Pale, cold, dull—

Her mouth fell open involuntarily. The body she'd been staring at began to slowly disintegrate into dirt. Meanwhile, a blob of soil was beginning to form nearby, taking the shape of a hand within a matter of moments. Gaara was too preoccupied to even notice.

"_Tochi no Toko Akamu_," Kakashi murmured. "As always Sasuke, you're eyes never fail to impress me. Yet, as always, you fail to widen your gaze. That jutsu is not to prove how mighty we are compared to Gaara. It is to keep him within Konoha's walls while we take care of more…pressing matters."

"What do you mean 'pressing matters'?"

Sakura's eyes widened as she found herself staring at the entire group of genin within the booth. None of them looked too pleased by Kakashi-sensei's explanation.

"Oh," Kakashi-sensei asked with the slightest bit of sheepishness, "you all heard that, did you?"

If Sakura had a bat, she would have bashed Kakashi-sensei's head in.

"Yeah," one of the genin answered with a sneer, "or at least enough to hear ya tell these pussies not to fight."

Before the crowd of genin could even snicker, Kakashi-sensei reached around and grabbed the speaker by the back of his shirt. He then shoved the boy's face over the edge of the balcony and asked curiously, "So, am I to understand that you'd like to fight that?"

It was at this time that Gaara decided to use his sand to eviscerate one of the "Chuunin", whose blood was real enough to fool Gaara into moving on to another victim.

Though the boy had heard Kakashi-sensei talk about how the Chuunin were fake, the sight of a man being disemboweled seemed to diminish his cockiness significantly. Guts and organs being torn out of someone's body had that incomparable effect.

"No…Jounin-sama," the boy mumbled ashamedly.

"What a shame," Kakashi-sensei remarked sadly as he threw the boy back into the booth.

As Sakura watched the boy bashfully hide himself back within the crowd, Kakashi-sensei turned around and said, "I have been ordered by the Lord Hokage to bring you all to safety. The Finals have been postponed. You are all to remain within our safety centers until the crisis has been averted."

The jovial air with which Kakashi-sensei announced this was not enough to stop one genin from apprehensively asking, "What crisis?"

"Exactly," Kakashi-sensei replied cheerfully. "Now, are everyone's eyes on me? Excell—oh, I almost forgot. _Kakuho_."

Sakura immediately closed her eyes, as did every Konoha genin present. The last word which Kakashi-sensei had said was a code used by Konoha nin during the war to let comrades know that they were about to implement a wide-range ocular genjutsu.

"_Ninpo: Kohitsuji_ _no Nemuri._"

A moment after the Kakashi-sensei's jutsu had been uttered, Sakura opened her eyes and found every non-Konoha genin to have collapsed upon the floor in a deep sleep.

"What's going on Kakashi-sensei," Ino asked.

Sakura's rival began to walk towards the silver-haired Jounin, but momentarily grimaced in mild disgust when she stepped into a small puddle of drool that had formed at the base of the mouth of a sleeping genin.

The rest of the Rookie Twelve—or rather, those of the Twelve who'd gotten into the Finals and hadn't been defeated—began making their way over to stand beside Sakura and Sasuke. All of them looked as curious as Ino.

Kakashi ran his eye over them to make sure they were all accounted for and answered, "To be frank, we're being invaded."

Sakura felt her stomach do a back flip. Judging by the reactions of her comrades, they were experiencing much the same thing.

"W-wh—h-how?"

Kakashi-sensei glanced at Ino for only a moment before returning his attention to the lot of them.

"We've known about this for a while now," he said impassively, half answering Ino's question and half addressing the concerns that no doubt ran rampant throughout the young genin's minds. "I'd rather not go into details right now. Just know that Hokage-sama and Kazekage-sama have left the arena to organize our defenses because we're under attack from a force numbering between two hundred and three hundred strong…and that we're alone."

Sakura didn't need to ask what Kakashi-sensei meant by "alone". She glanced out at the now almost completely empty arena and focused her eyes on the spot where the foreign shinobi had been debating. They too were gone, but the fury Sakura had felt when she saw them do nothing while Konoha nin died had not disappeared with them. In fact, their absence only made it grow.

"We need to keep Gaara away from the main fight," Kakashi-sensei continued. "We've been planning for this for a while now, so the main force shouldn't be too much trouble. That is, of course, if Gaara is kept busy."

"Why is that such a big issue," Shikamaru queried quizzically. "He's tough, yeah, but not enough to warrant such an elaborate scheme."

Kakashi-sensei nodded in agreement.

"You're right," he responded, "but we're not concerned with him, per se. Rather, we're worried about what he'll unleash. And don't ask what! That's classified information that we'd quite literally have to kill you for knowing. Do I make myself clear?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good," he said with a relieved sigh. "Then we'll proceed as follows: Shino, Ino, Tenten, Chouji, and Shikamaru will begin getting these genin to our safety centers. Once that's done, I want you to gather the rest of the Rookie Twelve and meet at Defense Area 12. Understood?"

"Hai, sempai!" was the enthusiastic response.

"Sasuke and Sakura will stay here to make sure Gaara's kept preoccupied," Kakashi-sensei went on, pulling a scroll out of one his vest pockets and handing it to Sakura as he did so. "If the _Tochi _jutsu starts failing—watch with your Sharingan, Sasuke—I want Sakura-chan to use this scroll. It's another jutsu like the _Tochi_. It'll only trick Gaara if it's used before the _Tochi_ fades away, though, so be sure to cast it at the right time. Whether or not Gaara takes the bait, both you and Sakura are to retreat back to the nearest Defense Sector and inform the head officer of what's happened. Once that's completed, meet back at Defense Sector 12 and we'll go from there. Got all that?"

Sakura nodded crisply in unison with Sasuke.

"All right," Kakashi-sensei declared calmly, "let's implement the plan. If you guys just keep your heads and follow orders, everything will work out fine."

Though the words were intended for all five of the genin present, the pointed glance Kakashi-sensei sent at Sasuke after his speech seemed to indicate that the message was meant especially for the Uchiha.

_Kakashi-sensei never said who were fighting_, Sakura realized. _If they're any Kumo nin, Sasuke will…_

"Move out," Kakashi-sensei ordered crisply, awakening Sakura from her reverie with a welcome jolt.

Sakura and Sasuke took up kneeling positions by the edge of the booth, while Kakashi and the rest of the genin picked up as many of the unconscious contestants as they could.

"Wait," Shikamaru stated suddenly. "These two: they're Gaara's teammates. They both have weird markings on their necks."

They all looked first at Shikamaru and then at the two bodies he was pointing at. The girl, her blond pigtails fluttering limply in the wind, and her comrade, a boy with odd markings painted across his face, were completely unconscious. However, the glowing triangle-shaped marks stood out blatantly against their skin.

"I'll take them to the safety center," Kakashi-sensei answered. "The specialists there will examine the symbols."

Carelessly dropping the Genin he'd been carrying and replacing them with Temari and Kankuro, Kakashi-sensei made to leave. He stopped, however, and added, "I want all of you to follow Shikamaru's line of thinking. The fact that Gaara's from Suna can't be ignored. Show caution around Suna nin, even if they're fighting with you. We can't be too careful right now."

"Hai sempai!"

Sakura watched as Kakashi-sensei nodded and then disappeared in a blur. The rest of the genin followed suit, until only Sakura, Sasuke, Ino, and the remainder of the unconscious genin were left.

"Don't die on me Sakura," a mocking voice called out, "unless you want to leave me without anyone to make fun of."

Sakura repressed a smile as she glared at Ino, who seemed to be struggling ever so slightly to carry a hefty genin on her shoulders.

"I won't," she replied swiftly. "I'm just worried you'll run away as soon as you see the enemy charging."

Ino stuck her tongue out playfully at her. The blonde-haired girl's verbal response, however, was not so childish.

"Be careful," she said softly, "okay Sakura?"

"Yeah," Sakura answered, "you too."

Ino nodded and then disappeared with her charge.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke and found him to be watching Gaara with the intentness of a hawk. His Sharingan seemed to glow with energy, but whether that was a natural component of the doujutsu or an embodiment of Sasuke's focus was impossible to tell.

Sakura turned to watch Gaara, wincing whenever she heard the fake Chuunin cry out in anguish. She tightened her grip on the scroll and rubbed its leathery paper in between her hands nervously. They were fighting for their lives once more and this time, they were going to have to kill.

* * *

Naruto smirked. He would have chuckled at his cunning had he not been trying to avoid drawing attention to himself as he pretended to be unconscious. Any sign that he was awake and active would draw his former comrades down upon him. Emotional conundrums aside, he could not afford to waste time in a meaningless battle with them.

Besides, the advantages of his current situation were too great to ignore. He'd known what was going to happen as soon as Kakashi had said "_Kakuho_". That word and many others had been drilled into Naruto's head too many times to ever be forgotten. Part of him, however, was slightly curious as to why they were still using the old code. From what he remembered, Konoha had had circulated between different codes yearly. The code set containing "_Kakuho_" had been the set when Naruto was eight. They should have gone through at least three different sets by now.

_Best not curse my good fortune_, he reasoned.

He opened his eyes a fraction and glanced at Anko, who lay on her stomach to his right. When the other genin had begun to collapse to the ground, he'd intentionally turned his head towards Anko when falling just so that he could ascertain whether or not she'd gotten his wordless warning about the genjutsu.

Pale and pure was Anko's skin as her eyes fluttered beneath their fleshy bonds. This sight—of her peaceful countenance as her chest slowly rose and fell—made Naruto afraid that she'd actually succumbed to the genjutsu.

Before his worry could be anything more than wisp, however, one of Anko's eyes snapped open and fixed onto his own. She grinned at him for a moment and then once again assumed the guise of sleep.

Letting out the faintest of sighs, Naruto turned his attention to the rapidly diminishing number of slumbering ninja in the booth. His former teammates would soon attempt to take Anko and him away. Where they would take him away was most likely a place he didn't want to be. At the very least, it would destroy any chance he had of capturing Gaara now.

There was one small light in this dark situation, however. There were only five Konoha genin carrying away the unconscious bodies. This left a small moment of time in which only Sasuke and Sakura were in the booth.

Naruto felt a tendril of emotion grip his stomach. He dismissed it immediately. Whatever he'd had with "Team 7" in the past was over and done with. Now, they were only obstacles in his path towards completing his mission.

He began making a sign in the dust on the floor with his right hand. The motion of his fingers was hidden behind his long mane of hair, alerting no one to his actions. He was writing a kanji and when he finished, he glanced down to examine his handiwork.

_Perfect_, he thought with a tinge of satisfaction. _I'm gonna have to thank Pain for forcing that guy to teach me this. _

Moving his head fractionally so that his mouth lay over the kanji, Naruto whispered in a voice that was nearly drowned out by the turmoil of Gaara's battle, "_Tatsu_."

The kanji suddenly shimmered and a small inky branch of its form began to rise out of the ground. The branch abruptly burst into nothingness and the kanji returned to its static state.

Naruto glared at the symbol.

_Damn it_, he thought in frustration, _I thought I didn't have to use my hands to summon them from a surface anymore. Maybe it has something to do with the surface it's on now. I'll have to research this later._

He began moving his hand towards the kanji, his fingers inching their way across the ground like a spider.

The sound of footsteps pattering up one of the stairwells brought a halt to his movement immediately. He fell still as Tenten sprinted into the booth, grabbed two genin, and then raced out again.

Naruto waited for several seconds before resuming his progress. As he did so, he wondered if the tension of his situation would make it seem as if it was taking him hours to reach the kanji, just like it did in some of the books he'd read.

_That would be kind of epic_, he thought with a hint of childish delight.

Before this thought could go any further, however, Naruto felt his fingers brush against the edges of the kanji. He pouted in disappointment, but nevertheless brought his hand to hover an inch over the kanji.

Once again, he whispered, "_Tatsu_."

This time, he gathered chakra in his hand, which served as a magnet for the kanji. The dark legs began pulling the symbol out of the ground, struggling with the intent of a young spider, until it finally yanked itself into the air where it floated peaceably beneath Naruto's palm.

He smiled and then moved on to the next stage of his plan. Turning his head back towards the rest of the room, he began counting how many unconscious genin were left in the booth.

_Five_, he concluded. _Three Kusa nin, one Ame nin, and one Kiri nin. _

The fact that they were all members of nations that were allies with Konoha wasn't lost upon Naruto, but the political relevance of the idea was insignificant at the moment.

Spreading his fingers out as wide as he could, Naruto whispered, "_Hanasu: Go_."

The symbol beneath Naruto's hand shimmered. Black lines began slithering their way out of the kanji and into four groups beside the original. Within moments, four more kanji hovered besides the original, to which they were identical.

Naruto, realizing that his former comrades would be back soon, quickly aimed the kanji towards each of the five unconscious genin and whispered sharply, "_Jibakujutsu!_"

The kanji instantly zoomed towards the slumbering genin. Each individual symbol latched onto the exposed skin of a different genin. When all five had been marked, the jutsu activated.

The heads of the genin snapped up, their eyes blank and white. Naruto nearly giggled in delight as they slowly began rising to their feet. They clumsily threw their hands out in front of them to lift themselves up. Then their chests were hovering in the air on the support of their arms, their legs walked up into a standing position. Lastly, the arms pushed off of the ground and the torso flung itself up so that it resided above the legs.

_Jibakujutsu_, Naruto proclaimed in his head victoriously, _succ—headache!_

There was a small flaw with Naruto's jutsu: it was not his own. Rather, it had been a jutsu used solely by a particular clan. As a result, he was severely drained whenever he attempted to use it. He had, however, been working on a set of seals that would alter his body to avoid this, but he hadn't had time to perfect them before the mission. They were, after all, the crude drawings of a novice in his eye.

_I'm gonna have to ask that guy to help me_, he thought as his head throbbed. _And by ask, I mean torture until he's _begging_ to help me._

Naruto shook his head to his focus onto his "puppets". He'd need every bit of mental energy He only had one command to give. After that, the possessed bodies would do everything in their power to follow that directive until it was completed or they lay dead. What made matters worse was that Naruto could only use one word in his command. Anything more would endanger the health of his mind.

_Damn clan jutsu_, he thought. _If only Pain had forced that idiot to teach me the full jutsu. Then I could give as many commands as I wanted in as many words as I wanted! I suppose I'll have to make due._

The sound of footsteps suddenly drew his attention away from his migraine.

_Gotta make this quick_, he realized.

Hurriedly extending his right arm towards the puppets and, spreading his fingers so that they pointed at all of the possessed nin, Naruto shouted, "Attack!"

Before Sasuke and Sakura could even react to Naruto's outburst, the possessed genin were already attacking them.

As the two Team 7 members dodged the kunai flung at them and moved to counterattack, Naruto tapped Anko on the shoulder. Her eyes, mischievous and playful snapped open.

"Now," she asked excitedly.

He nodded happily.

With the grin of a cat, Anko leapt to her feet and took off at a dead sprint towards the balcony of a booth.

"Stop her Sasuke!"

Naruto watched his former teammate kick a puppet away and then disappear in a blur. He appeared right behind her with a kunai poised to pierce her neck.

Eyes widening in rage, Naruto formed a one-handed seal and cast his jutsu faster than even he could comprehend: "_Kaze Yari no Jutsu!_"

A spear of wind burst forth from the air and launched itself into Sasuke's left thigh. Flesh and muscle were eviscerated, leaving Sasuke to crumple to the ground in a heap. His hands flew over the wound desperately as the blood poured from it. The rage within Naruto destroyed any regret he might have had and he smiled in satisfaction as his former teammate's eyes became wild with pain. Anko grinned behind her at him and then leapt off of the balcony.

"SASUKE!"

Naruto suddenly felt his anger die. That voice, so desperate and pain-stricken, struck chords within him that had become dusty and torn after years of neglect.

_Sakura-chan…_

A puppet lunged at her, but she quickly lodged a kunai in its vulnerable belly and spun away to Sasuke. Then, it was as if she was at Sasuke's side instantly, her hands frantically racing through her pouch for medicinal supplies. She was completely focused on her Sasuke, who could only silently writhe on the floor as his leg continued to bleed.

The puppets, not deterred by their comrade's vicious death, rushed at her. Sakura didn't seem to care. Her left hand had already plugged up the circular wound with her own finger, while her right continued to search through her pack. If she didn't move, the puppets would kill her.

_I—what do I do_, he wondered dumbly. _Do I let _her _die, or do I…_

His question was answered for him in the form of a chained mace bursting from the stairwell and into the skull of a puppet. Tenten appeared behind it seconds later.

Something clicked within Naruto. The indecision was gone and he was once again in control of his actions.

"Need to move," he muttered to himself, flipping up into a standing position as he did so.

"Stay still, Ame," Tenten commanded.

He suddenly felt the tip of a sword against the back of his neck and his heart leapt into his throat for a fraction of a second.

"Since you're the only conscious one here," she continued, "I'm assuming you're the one responsible for this."

Naruto glanced at his puppets. The one Sakura had stabbed was rolling around on the floor like a dying animal. It would be dead within moments. The other four looked to be in better condition and were even trying to get back up despite their gut-wrenching facial wounds.

A gasp drew his attention back onto Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura had just poured some liquid onto a piece of gauze, which she then slapped onto Sasuke's wound. It was obviously exacerbating his pain immensely.

The sight was beautiful. The purity in Sakura's eyes as she bent over her friend's wound, the agony splayed over Sasuke's face and the gratitude glowing deep within his eyes—it was all beautiful…and Naruto hated it. He hated Sakura's tears as they began lining the rims of her eyes. He hated the little gasps that escaped Sasuke's throat. He hated everything about them, for the love they held for each other—childish and clean—was something he couldn't touch. Why hadn't Sakura done that for him as he lay dying on that nameless field? Why hadn't Sasuke rushed in, Sharingan blazing, to save him? _Why?_

He closed his eyes took a deep breath, partially to still the turmoil of his thoughts and partially to shield himself from the sight in front of him.

_It won't do to dwell on things that have no answer_, he thought to himself somberly. _These thoughts…they've already gone through my head over and over again. I can't afford to have them affect my behavior now._

"_Shigai Tsukuroi no Jutsu_," Sakura proclaimed suddenly, breaking through Naruto's reverie.

Naruto, despite his torment, glanced at her in surprise, but was drawn away by a loud hissing noise. It was the liquid around Sasuke's wound and it was bubbling as if under a fire.

"You're coming with me," Tenten commanded forcefully, ignorant of the weight of the situation. "Drop all of your weapons and bring your hands behind your…"

He ignored her, too enthralled by the jutsu being played out before him.

Sakura sat in kneeling position, her hands in a perfect ram sign and her eyes half-closed in concentration. A steady stream of _issui _was pouring from her into Sasuke's wound.

_No_, Naruto corrected. _Not the wound, but…into the liquid? Is it a medium of some kind? _

The hissing suddenly stopped and the flow of _issui _ceased. Sakura's hands dropped into her lap. She abruptly began teetering back and forth, her body somehow too heavy for her to hold up. Her eyes snapped shut, the breath left her lungs, and she fell back towards the concrete floor.

Two pale hands wrapped around her stomach, saving her from what would, at the very least, have been a concussion. It was Sasuke and, despite the dried blood that besmirched his legs, he looked as healthy as ever. His dark eyes radiated concern for Sakura.

The interest that Naruto had felt for the jutsu fled as if it had never been there at all and he was left with a cold feeling in his stomach. As he turned away from the touching site, he suddenly noticed that the gauze Sakura had put on Sasuke's leg had fallen off. His eyes flew to the wound, but he found that there was none to be found. The terrible hole in Sasuke's leg was gone and in its stead was new, slightly pink skin.

A thought arose unbidden in his mind: _How useful that jutsu would have been for me when I was burned…_

He grimaced and covered his face with his hands wearily. The blade against the nape of his neck suddenly pressed deeper into his skin.

"I said 'don't move' traitor!"

Naruto growled inwardly upon hearing Tenten's fiery exclamation.

_I need to go find Anko_, he thought blankly. _This "stuff" in my head is for later. _

Naruto lowered his hands to his sides and was careful to face his palms at an angle towards where he assumed Tenten's chest was.

"My apologies, Konoha nin," he replied smoothly, "but I couldn't help but cover my face in shame of what I've done."

The force of the blade against his neck did not lessen, but the curiosity in Tenten's voice was undeniable as she asked, "What do you mean?"

He smiled thinly and whispered, "_Kaze no Hira_."

Two blasts of wind slammed into Tenten's gut and sent her flying back into the wall of the booth. Her body and head slammed into the wall with a resounding _crack_ and she fell to floor unconscious.

He glanced back behind him and answered casually, "I'm ashamed because I didn't kill them both before you arrived."

As he turned back, he felt an ache in his shoulders. He grimaced at the realization of the ache's source.

_Using a jutsu without using the signs is straining_, he thought grudgingly. _Though, it's_ _damn useful to catch enemies' off guard._

Returning his attention to Sasuke and Sakura, he noticed the raven-haired Uchiha was glaring at him furiously. Naruto smirked and winked at him mischievously.

"No hard feelings about the leg, I hope," Naruto asked hopefully.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"So you're pretty pissed off then," he queried blankly.

Sasuke uttered not a word.

"Since you seem like you want to fight me," Naruto remarked, "I'm afraid that I must inform you of a prior engagement of mine that is far greater than any petty disagreement we have here. Perhaps you could hold off—"

"Petty," Sasuke asked in a growl. "What is _petty _about you attacking two of my comrades?"

"Well, I didn't technically attack Saku—"

Sasuke whipped out three kunai and launched them at Naruto. Just as they were about to hit him, however, one of his puppets jumped in front of the blades and shielded him from the attack. Naruto grinned upon hearing the unmistakable squelching noise of the metal embedding itself in his puppet's flesh.

"Sorry Sasuke ol' pal," Naruto called out merrily, "but I've got to go. My friends here will play with you…if that's to your liking, of course."

Sasuke didn't have time to respond. Naruto's three remaining puppets had already begun attacking him. The Uchiha grabbed Sakura and leapt out of the way as one of the puppets lunged at him with a wild swipe, leaving the opening to the bottom of the arena floor completely open.

Naruto sprinted up to it immediately and jumped onto its edge. He looked down and saw Anko hiding in the arena's shadows as Gaara continued to kill the "Chuunin" that Kakashi had created.

He exhaled quickly and then leapt off of the edge, delighting in the feeling of the air rushing around his lithe and slender body.

* * *

Explosions dotted the area outside of Konoha like stars on a cloudless night. Great fiery balls of energy blew up into the sky, throwing both dirt and man into the air where they flailed around helplessly before crashing to the ground in a heap. Surrounding the explosions was noise.

What kind of noise? He had no idea. It was a great mass of sounds—people shouting, the whistle of kunai sailing through the air, jutsu being screamed out, hand-signs being formed—that no human could ever hope to comprehend completely. It was just…_noise_.

Orochimaru blinked and realized that something was in his body's eye. Swiftly bringing his fingers up to the dark iris of the orb, he felt around its gelatinous surface before touching upon a familiar thin quality. He carefully pulled the thin "thing", but he soon stopped when he felt that it had left his eye. He looked at his fingers and that in their grasp was a slender strip of hair that was of a color that looked like a mix between auburn and light brown.

_Fascinating_, he thought. _I didn't know an empty body could shed hair. Could this mean that it is decomposing? Or maybe—_

"Kazekage-sama!"

Orochimaru pursed his lips beneath his face mask and glanced at this source of the shout.

"What is wrong," he asked Jirobo with the faintest sense of curiosity.

"Permission to approach my Lord," Jirobo asked in what was nearly a shout.

He glanced at his large guard disdainfully, but nodded nonetheless. Jirobo bowed, then rushed to Orochimaru's side and kneeled by his leg.

"My Lord," the fat man continued in a whisper, "why are we not attacking yet?"

Orochimaru quirked his body's eyebrow in mild confusion.

"Whatever do you mean," he asked. "I ordered all of our men to help our dear allies prepare the counterattack that will commence once the initial wave of invaders is repelled."

"I didn't mean that, Orochimaru-sama," Jirobo replied. "I meant the…_Invasion_."

"Ah," Orochimaru muttered softly, realizing what his subordinate was referring to. "There's been a change of plans. We won't be doing that any longer."

"_But my Lor_—"

Orochimaru placed his hand on the top of his loyal guard's head and gave it a little pat. Jirobo stopped speaking immediately.

"There, there my dear little pet," Orochimaru said consolingly, "everything will be fine. Just do I as say and all will turn out well in the end. Now, if you could go kill Gaara for me, I'd be greatly appreciative. Try to force him outside of Konoha. If you can't manage that, at least cover your wouldn't do at all if people saw the Sand Prince being attacked by one of his own."

He removed his hand from Jirobo's scalp and made as if to end the conversation. Jirobo, however, found a small flaw in his master's orders.

"B-but my Lord," Jirobo stuttered out in protest, "Gaara's a demon! He'll kill me! You said…you said that all would be fine if I followed your orders. How is this fine?"

Orochimaru stared at him confusedly.

_I meant "all would be fine" for me_, he thought inquisitively. _What did he think I was referring to? Ah, I see. He thought I meant "all would be fine" for _him_. Does he think his life matters—no, of course not. How could he? He's not _me_. Nevertheless, I'd better address his concerns._

Schooling his body's face into an expression of disappointment and hurt, Orochimaru proclaimed in a voice that only Jirobo could hear, "You are one of the Sound Four—my elite. I saw the shine of your talent amidst the rabble around you and I have molded you into a powerful warrior. Are you saying that my judgment and training were worth nothing?"

Jirobo paled and his eyes widened frantically.

"Of course not, Orochimaru-sama!"

"Then go," Orochimaru commanded with the passion of a general, "and bring glory to my name and yours. The reward will be more power than you've ever dreamed of…"

"Yes, my Lord," Jirobo shouted fervently.

The large lad leapt up and made as if to leave. As his large frame was about to launch off of the building's edge, a thought suddenly came to the Snake Sennin.

"One other thing," Orochimaru ordered suddenly. "Bring darling Tayuya with you and tell her to keep a close eye on Sasuke and Jinkoumaru. They're going to be very useful to me and I want to make sure they stay alive."

"Of course Orochimaru-sama!"

Jirobo turned around to face him, bowed, and then leapt off of the edge towards the arena. Orochimaru watched the boy's large shadow leap from building to building, but soon returned his attention to the battle raging in front of him and the noise that surrounded it.

A large gust of wind suddenly blew across the roof that Orochimaru currently lounged upon. He had no doubt that the thirty or so Suna guards crouched on the buildings around him could feel it as well.

His body's hands instinctually wrapped themselves around the smooth handles of the newly made throne he sat upon, eliciting a wave of sensations and feelings within his mind. The effect was accentuated by the sight of massive armies of shinobi swarming towards each other and clashing with terrible ferocity. To the untrained eye, it appeared as if dark blurs were dancing over and beyond the walls of Konoha. To Orochimaru, there were hundreds of human beings—some under his command—fighting each other for vague ideals that he had crafted for them.

_Was there not a time when I wanted this_, he wondered faintly. _Did a part of me not desire to command the hearts of others and be the center of their world?_

The noise broke through his thoughts and lured him back into its wondrous embrace. Orochimaru dismissed his thoughts, leaned back in his throne and closed his eyes to the beautiful din of battle.

* * *

Naruto landed gracefully on the torn earth of the arena floor within moments.

"Where the hell were you?"

He spared a glance to his left at Anko before returning his gaze to Gaara's astonishing display of destruction.

"Busy," he replied simply.

"Huh," was her sarcastic response.

They stood in silence, following the swift and powerful movements of Gaara's sand with half-interested eyes. A pillar of said sand rushed into a "Chuunin's" mouth and then erupted from within it, sending gore spewing everywhere.

"You know what to do," Naruto asked suddenly.

"Yeah," she answered, pulling both of her knives out in front of her.

Several more moments passed and they could both begin to feel Gaara getting restless with this insufficient prey.

"Don't summon Shinja until later," he told her, as if adding one final item to a grocery list on a whim.

"'Kay," she replied, twirling her knives absentmindedly.

She cracked her neck and then sighed in pleasure.

A few seconds later, she turned to him and asked, "You ready yet?"

Naruto nodded.

Anko grinned and then took off, her legs pumping beneath her furiously as her arms dragged behind her with the weight of the massive knives. Gaara's sand noticed her immediately and rushed to meet her. The "Chuunin" continued their attack, but the remainder of Gaara's sand easily held them off.

Naruto watched this impassively as he began forming numerous hand-signs in front of his chest. Anko and the sand zoomed closer and closer together. If it hit Anko…

"_Fuuton: Nobara no Kaika!_"

Anko's running form was suddenly flushed _issui_, though only Naruto could see this. However, it was what Gaara was seeing that was important.

The jutsu Naruto had used was a creation of his that he'd been working on for some time. He had always wanted to incorporate the _issui _into his jutsu, but it had not been until his sensei had been explaining to him the unreliability of vision that he'd thought up the idea of using the issui to alter what an enemy sees. It had been a basic idea that he knew would most likely not have produced any incredibly powerful jutsu, but he'd needed to start somewhere. The end result was the _Nobara no Kaika_.

This jutsu was one that used _issui _to alter an enemy's eyesight. To put it simply, it created the same effect as bringing your hand directly in front of your eye, save that this effect was multiplied several times over. Gaara was suddenly seeing a massive number of blurry Anko images racing at him and there was no way he could tell who the real one was.

The sand racing towards her suddenly slowed and Naruto saw Gaara's eyes narrow in what was most likely confusion. Anko continued her sprint, but her speed had slowed as much as the sand's.

Gaara's eyes darted across the arena suspiciously and then blinked in an obvious effort to clear his eyes out. Naruto watched apprehensively as he opened them again. When Gaara found nothing different, his glare became murderous.

The Ichibi Jinchuriki extended his arms in a random direction and swung it across the arena in a swift horizontal arc. The sand rushed to fulfill this command with ferocious speed, but the point where the attack started was a good twenty yards away from Anko.

Naruto, his hands locked in the Dragon seal, watched with a tinge of nervousness as Anko suddenly disappeared in a blur of speed. Her _issui _told him the path that she was taking. When the tips of these _issui _were at Gaara's back, Naruto began pumping more of his chakra into his jutsu. The effect was instantaneous.

Gaara's eye widened in shock and the sand abruptly exploded outwards in wild lunges, grappling and attacking empty spaces of air. Naruto could see how excited and furious the Jinchuriki's _issui _was becoming, but there was something else mixed in with that vicious energy: fear.

That fear was not unjustified. As Gaara was frantically attacking a mass of blurry images, Anko appeared right behind his fully exposed back. All of the sand was too busy attacking invisible enemies to reach her.

Naruto grinned savagely as Anko brought one of her knives down across Gaara's spine and split his back open.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Gaara's eyes widened grotesquely as blood poured out of his back and his mouth flew open to let out his horrible scream of pain. The black metal of Anko's blades cut through Gaara's skin with a sickening _squelch_ and blood burst forth from the wound delightfully.

Yet, the hurt and agony within that scream of Gaara's caused Naruto's grin to falter. Deep within him, he felt like he'd hurt a sibling. He had, after all, been a Jinchuriki at one time. In some ways, that made Gaara and him closer than some brothers he knew of.

He smirked at that.

"Wh-what is this?"

Naruto started at the voice. It was so small and childlike, yet Naruto could hear it more clearly than his own breath.

"M-Mother…why is there red running down my arm? Why am I…"

Naruto's eyes widened and he swerved his head down at Gaara's paralyzed form.

_Is that…is that Gaara's voice?_

Teal eyes rimmed by sleepless black lines stared quivering ahead at some unknown thing. That pale face, which had once looked so insane and menacing, was now that of a child mewling for its mother.

"M-Mother…Mother…"

Naruto recoiled in shock as a wretched scream suddenly burst forth from Gaara's throat and the _issui _surrounding the Suna Jinchuriki exploded.

"**MOTHER!**"

"RUN ANK—"

It was too late. Sand exploded around Gaara and engulfed him in a vicious cyclone. Anko was caught in the storm. Naruto could only watch in horror as she desperately tried to leap out of the way, but was caught in the back by the cyclone's tearing winds.

Just as Naruto felt his heart ready to implode with anxiety and grief, Anko's body burst into a puff of smoke. When the smoke dissipated, a fake Chuunin was left in her place and it was quickly cut to shreds by the force of Gaara's sand.

There was a sudden _pop_ to Naruto's left and Anko appeared beside him unharmed. She glanced at him sheepishly and muttered, "Sorry."

He laughed nervously and slapped his hand to his face.

"That doesn't quite cover it," he replied dryly, "but I'm just grateful you're alive to say it."

Naruto removed his hand and glared at her mockingly. She grinned in return.

"**I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!**"

The color drained from their faces as Gaara's scream roared throughout the arena. The whirlwind of sand was dying down, but the deformed and writhing figure that lay within the vortex was far worse than gust of wind.

"You know what's in there," Anko asked, her voice making it clear to Naruto that part of her didn't want to find out.

"Yeah," he answered wearily, "but it's not so bad when you think about it."

Anko cocked her head like a curious puppy.

"Why?"

Gaara roared once more and the wind died down immediately. His body was now visible to them in all of its grotesqueness. The gourd on Gaara's back was gone. It seemed to have dissolved onto Gaara's body, forming several new appendages that only served to make Gaara even more terrifying. His right arm was now longer than his own body and was covered in intertwined tendrils of what Naruto assumed was sand. A tail swayed back and forth ominously behind him and the substance that made up Gaara's arm also covered the right half of his face. This last addition to his face made him look truly demonic, for his the sclera of his right eye was completely black and the iris was a strange golden pattern.

Naruto stared at Gaara's demented visage for only a moment before he turned to Anko. Completely ignoring Gaara, he grinned at his beloved friend and remarked half in jest and half in genuine tenderness, "At least we have each other."

Anko rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

"Let's kick this kid's ass and get out of this damn city," she growled with playful viciousness.

Naruto nodded and grasped the hilt of his sword.

A new _issui _pattern suddenly popped near the edge of Naruto's senses. His grip on his sword tightened as he cautiously glanced to the northeast of where he was, from which the pattern was coming from.

Another, stronger pattern soon followed the first.

_Who the hell are these people_, he wondered nervously. The vibrancy of their _issui _told Naruto that they were easily Chuunin level, so they could have been assassins sent by the invaders to take out Gaara.

_It would make sense if Gaara was defending Konoha_, Naruto thought analytically as the _issui _patterns drew closer and Gaara began stalking towards them, _but Gaara is attacking _everyone_. It would actually be to the invaders' advantage if Gaara stayed alive and caused as much chaos inside Konoha as possible. Then, could they be from Konoha or Suna?_

Naruto didn't have time to answer his question. The two shinobi whom he had sensed suddenly appeared in his peripheral as dark blurs and they briefly touched upon the edge of the top of arena before zooming down toward the arena floor.

Their _issui _allowed Naruto to see where they were headed and he was relieved to find that they were landing behind Gaara.

_They must know something about Gaara then if they're not attacking him directly_, he realized thoughtfully.

When the duo landed, Naruto strained to get a glimpse of them from behind Gaara's hulking frame. Fortunately, they were situated at an angle that allowed him to see them in their entirety.

One was a girl with orange hair who looked just a little older than Anko and the other was a behemoth of a man with similarly colored hair, albeit in a much different style than his long-haired female companion. The girl wore an odd cap on the top of her head, but Naruto could not yet think of what its use might be.

"Fuck, Jirobo," the girl suddenly growled out in frustration, perfectly suiting the scowl that adorned her face, "this nutcase is already halfway gone. If your fat ass didn't move so slow we coulda killed him in no time!"

The man, apparently named Jirobo, replied with the slightest hint of exasperation, "I didn't receive the order until just a few moments ago. You know how _he _can be. And if you could stop using such vulgar language," he remarked scornfully, "I and the rest of humanity would be very appreciative."

The girl narrowed her eyes at Jirobo and uttered blankly, "Fuck you and fuck humanity."

"**Who are you**," Gaara suddenly demanded in his demented voice. "**More blood for Mother?**"

Naruto blinked curiously as the girl began cursing furiously at Gaara, who merely licked his wide, demonic lips in response.

"Interesting pair, eh Anko," Naruto asked cheerfully. "Maybe they'll keep him busy for u—what's wrong?"

Anko's hand was trembling and her face was pale.

"Anko," Naruto asked in a softer voice, "what's wrong?"

She didn't respond. Naruto looked at her _issui _and relieved to find that they weren't running around in fear. Instead, they were moving as if they were sleep-deprived insomniacs.

_That means she's sad_, Naruto realized confusedly. _But, why would she be sad? This isn't the time to be—_

Anko suddenly mumbled something, breaking through Naruto's thoughts easily.

She said it again, but this time it was disturbingly audible to Naruto:

"Tayuya-chan…"

* * *

**A/N****: **Finally done with Chapter 16. As has become the custom, I apologize for my tardiness. I think I might have the next chapter posted this weekend, but it'll be hard. A lot of reviews would help…

I'm joking. I actually think I will have Chapter 17 up by next weekend and I hope it will be to your liking.

Please, please review and if you have any questions or complaints about the story, just send me a message. As many will tell you, I answer these messages very quickly.

Looking forward to your reviews,

Oramo

Kodama reference: I'm referring to the Kodama in _Princess Mononoke_. I'm well aware that rattling heads have rarely, if ever, been used to describe them in Japanese mythology, but I couldn't help myself. Japanese mythology enthusiasts, I beg your pardon.

_Tochi no Toko Akamu_: "Endless Nightmare of the Soil"—Jutsu that spawns an endless number of clones within a certain area, provided that the area has a large amount of soil nearby. The size of the area is determined by the amount of chakra put into the jutsu, with high amounts of chakra resulting in an immense number of clones.

_Ninpo: Kohitsuji no Nemuri_: "Sleep of the Lambs"—Ocular genjutsu that puts anyone the user is looking at to sleep. Jutsu requires very little chakra. As a result, it only works on those who aren't prepared for it.

_Tatsu_: "Rise Up"

_Hanasu: Go_—"Divide: Five"

_Fuuton: Nobara no Kaika_: "Wind Release: Blooming of the Wild Rose"


	17. Utagai no Kaisen

**A/N****:** Chapter 17 is finally here and the big fight for Konoha is fully underway. Most of you seemed to like the chapter, for which I'm very grateful. Sorry for updating so late. I'm just not going to set a date for updating anymore. I never follow it and it probably upsets many of you.

The next chapter will detail a lot of the actual battle going on between Konoha and the invading forces.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 17 of _Naze?_, titled "Utagai no Kaisen".

Utagai no Kaisen

_The tiny pitter-patter of feet echoed down the hallway, stirring some of the beings that dwelled behind the thick iron bars. Eyes glowed in the darkness behind the cages, conjuring up specters that would have sent any child away screaming in terror. But the owner of the feet, a small violet-haired girl who looked no older than five, paid the eyes no mind. She had learned long ago that the eyes meant her no harm. This was not because they were kind. It was because they were weak._

_The girl's face contorted into a sneer of disgust just at the thought of weakness. That's what these mutilated and emaciated creatures represented to her. They were a symbol of what she could never become. Otherwise, Father would put her in a cell just like them and she would be forgotten about forever._

"_In order to win Father's love," she muttered to herself, "I must be the strongest. I will be the strongest!"_

_The conviction that filled her upon making this proclamation lasted for only a moment, for it was almost instantly overcome by a feeling she'd been experiencing a lot lately: fear. This fear was based around the events of a year ago. Such a long time and she still couldn't stop thinking about it. _

_After Father had left the mysterious cloaked people, he'd taken her to a secret cave. Once there, he'd begun tampering with the seal on her neck that he'd placed upon her before they'd left the big city. It had hurt worse than anything in her entire life. _

_But it wasn't the physical pain that had tormented her after she'd awoken. It had been the look of sheer disappointment on Father's face right before she'd succumbed to the pain. It was that look that so utterly terrified her and it was that which had driven her to strive for perfection ever since. Father was everything to her and if she did not have his love, she was worthless._

_She rounded a corner and continued down the next hallway. _

_Father wanted her to retrieve some weaklings for his projects. She had to bring them to him as quickly as possible so as not make him mad. The cell she was looking for finally came into sight beneath the dim torchlight of the cavernous dungeon. It was marked with the kanji for "Promising", meaning its inhabitants had the potential to be worth something to Father. Of course, they weren't good enough to walk around freely like Anko and Kimimaro._

_Anko glared into the darkness at the thought of that white-haired jerk. Since when did he deserve to get called "Kimimaro-kun" by Father?_

_She stopped at the cell door and glanced at its label to make sure it was the right one. Finding that it was, she reached into the coat Father had given her and pulled out a slip of paper._

"_Orochimaru-sama needs you," she called out in as authoritative a voice as possible, "so get up and move."_

_Several groans echoed out of the cell, but Anko ignored them easily. Any remorse she might have felt for these flesh sacks had died out within the first week she'd been here._

"_It's master's pet," a deep, gravelly voice called out from within the cell. "Wonder if he she tastes nice…"_

"_Shut it scum," she retorted coldly. "Even if you could touch me, Orochimaru-sama would have your head in seconds."_

"_Little Hebi-hime seems upset," the voice remarked mockingly, "but I sense doubt in her words, yes I do. What do you think?"_

_A second voice replied, "Yeahhh. I think she knows what we know she knows what we know…y'know?"_

_Manic cackles burst forth from the cage._

"_Yeah," the first voice continued, "I think you're right."_

"_Shut the hell up," Anko commanded with a sneer, "unless ya want my blades up yer—" _

_"Don't tease us with illusions of happiness," the second voice cut in with a happy giggle, "especially when you don't have _His _protection anymore."_

_ Anko felt her heart catch in her throat, but quickly dismissed it. Now was not the time to show weakness. _

_ "What the fuck are ya talkin' about," she demanded in as gruff a voice as she could manage._

_ "Hee hee," a third voice exclaimed. "She's learned a new word! FUCKKKKK!"_

_ The first voice answered Anko's question in a way that made her think of him as smiling while speaking:_

"_We heard _He _gave you…the Test."_

'_The seal,' she thought instantly, feeling her fear return full force._

"_She knows," the second voice proclaimed cheerfully. "Can't you smell it on her? Can't youcan'tyoucan'tyoucan'tyou…"_

_Anko felt panic rising in her chest. The information about the results of Father's test was supposed to have been a well-kept secret. None of the other prisoners had known about it during this past year, but they could have easily learned of it via eavesdropping. No one would have had to say anything. It might have been a disapproving glance from Father when her name was brought up or a disappointed inflection of his voice as he spoke her name. Any of these would have been more than enough for the prisoners to derive that vital information._

_However this particular scum had discovered her secret was irrelevant. The source of her strength in dealing with these creatures had been the confidence that Orochimaru would avenge her should anyone even attempt to harm her. With that gone, they could all see what she actually was: a little girl in a prison full of bloodthirsty thugs. _

"_Am I right, Hebi-hime," the first voice asked softly in that gravelly voice of his. "Your body reeks of so many…delectable hormones that I can't help but feel that I'm correct. Answer me…Hebi-hime."_

_Anko crushed the paper release seal in her hands as a angry tear began falling down her cheek._

_"As I thought," the first voice uttered in satisfaction, "and judging by your reaction, you failed. Am I right, Hebi-hime?"_

_ "So what's it to you," Anko screamed suddenly. "It don't mean nothin'! I'll just do it again and next time—"_

_ "There are no 'next times' for _Him_."_

_ Anko stopped. Everything stopped. _

_ "That's right Hebi-hime," the voice went on ruthlessly, "he doesn't need you anymore. Your just like us now and that means…"_

_ A massive grey hand with terrifying claws shot out of the cell and wrapped itself around her throat. It took Anko a moment to realize that her neck was being crushed._

_ "It's taken me a long time to build up enough chakra to do that," the first voice gasped out as the barrier for the cell began tearing up his arm. "Now open the door, Hebi-hime, and I'll spare your—"_

_All thoughts of Father and being strong were slowly fading away from her mind as the air left her lungs. The horrible ease with which control over her survival had been stripped away from her had given her one absolute thought: she would never earn Father's love. _

_Something wet suddenly splashed onto her face and the hand around her neck relaxed its grip, falling away from her like a dead weight. The hand and the arm it was attached to fell the floor in a puddle of blood. There were gurgles of pain, but they fell silent soon enough. The other voices were not to be heard. _

"_You all right?"_

_Anko blinked._

"_I asked, are you all right?"_

_This new voice was softer and younger than the others, but it was far more commanding._

_Anko knew she had to reply somehow and she did, but it was weak and hollow: "Yes…"_

_The new voice suddenly grunted in disapproval and replied, "Don't gimme that timid shit, ya hear? The only reason I saved your ass was 'cause you weren't bein' a little bitch…which is what ya are now."_

_Despite all of the fear and anxiety that consumed Anko's mind, the words of this person struck a chord somewhere deep within her. It reawakened her fury, which had been stunned by the attack upon her and her helplessness to prevent it. It burst forth now and it did so with force. _

"_Who're you callin' a bitch," Anko shouted furiously. "Just cuz you killed that guy doesn't mean—_

_A person suddenly appeared in between the spaces of the bars, breaking off the beginnings of what would have most assuredly been a magnificent rant. The person was a young girl who was just a little taller than Anko was, yet her face was almost skeletal. She had dark and thin orange hair that was covered by a grey cap. Her outfit was dirty and torn, but the blood dripping off of her bony hands and the cold gleam in her eyes gave her the air of a hardened warrior. _

"_That's much better," the girl muttered approvingly, letting Anko know that she was the voice who had saved her. "Now let me out of this fuckin' thing so I can go see the snake."_

_Anko stared in awe at her and unconsciously placed the seal on the cage door, dispelling the barrier with a swift crackle of energy. The girl threw it open with one of her blood-covered hands and began trudging down the long hallway._

_Swiftly shutting the gate and removing the dispelling seal from it, Anko sprinted up to the girl and stopped in front of her._

"_Wait," she demanded, "tell me your name."_

_The girl halted her progress and looked down at Anko in disgust._

"_Why," she asked._

"_Because," Anko replied seriously, "I wanna thank you and I wanna know what I can do to earn your—"_

_The girl raised her left hand and then slapped Anko upside the head._

"_Ow! What the hel—"_

_"My name's Tayuya," the girl stated bluntly, "and you don't have to earn or do anything to pay me back. It's just somethin' that happened. End of story."_

_ Anko stared at her incredulously. This Tayuya had helped her just…because? Didn't she have to do something to warrant that aid? _

_ Tayuya stepped around Anko and resumed her trek down the hallway._

_ Thoughts flew through Anko's head at lightning speed. She had to talk with this girl._

_ "Wait," she called out again suddenly._

"_I'm really starting to regret saving you," Tayuya grumbled in annoyance as she stopped in her tracks and turned around to face Anko._

_ "There had to be some reason why you saved me," Anko called out persistently. "Tell me that reason…please."_

_ "Why does there have to be a reason," Tayuya asked contemptuously. "That guy was being an annoying—and fucking loud—prick and pulling his throat out shut him up."_

_ After a moment, Tayuya added, "Besides, I don't like seeing stronger people picking on weaker people."_

_ Anko felt like someone had punched her in the gut. _

_This girl viewed her as weak? No, it couldn't be. The other prisoners, they were weak and despicable and loathsome. But not her, never her! She wasn't _weak_ and she'd prove it to this Tayuya even if it killed her!_

"_You think I'm weak," she demanded in a rage, "I'll show you 'weak'!"_

_Chakra soared into her limbs as she sprinted towards Tayuya. Two kunai which had been hidden up her baggy shirt shot up out of the sleeves and into her outstretched fingers. Tayuya watched her with widened eyes as she charged, causing Anko to grin savagely. _

_When she was only feet away from Tayuya, she leapt into the air and swung the kunai downward in pincer movement. Time slowed down for Anko as she sailed towards her target. The blades gleamed in the light of the torches as they moved closer and closer to Tayuya's pale and worn flesh._

_Anko screamed victoriously, "DI—"_

_The Tayuya in front of her vanished into thin air before Anko's blades could even touch her._

'_Genjutsu,' Anko realized frantically as time abruptly sped up and her momentum carried her into a tumble across the floor._

_She instantly flipped up into a crouching position, her kunai held in front of her as a guard against potential attacks. All that she found, however, was a very exhausted and frail girl leaning against the wall of the corridor as if she was about to pass out._

"_Get up," Anko growled. "Get up now!"_

_Tayuya glared at her contemptuously._

"_Don't order me around girl," she retorted. "I'm in no condition to fight and any 'victory' you get will be worthless. In other words, you won't prove shit by beating me right now."_

_Anko grimaced, but could not deny this unshakable truth. Tayuya had probably been in that cell for an ungodly amount of time. From what Anko knew of life in the cells from watching the kid with glasses organize them, prisoners received barely enough food to sustain themselves, let alone their chakra. Tayuya had probably used the last of hers up with that genjutsu._

_She lowered her kunai and angrily placed them back into her shirt._

_ "Fine," Anko replied with childish petulance, "but let me know when you're better again so I can fight you."_

_ Tayuya stared at her and asked incredulously, "Why the hell do you want to fight me?"_

_ "Because you called me weak," Anko answered instantly and forcefully, "and I'm gonna prove to ya that you're wrong."_

_ "Why do you care what I think?"_

_ "Because you're strong and I want—nevermind!"_

_ Anko clamped her hands over mouth as if hoping to hide the fact that she had complemented her "enemy"._

_ To Anko's immense surprise, Tayuya started chuckling, though it sounded not too different from wheezing._

_ After her fit of humor had passed, Tayuya asked amusedly, "How old are you?"_

_ Anko crossed her arms over her chest proudly and proclaimed, "Father tells me I'm five and one-third."_

_ Tayuya raised an orange eyebrow._

_ "Who's 'Father'," she asked curiously._

_ Anko, the non-aggressive demeanor of Tayuya cooling her anger considerably, answered guardedly, "Orochimaru-sama."_

_ "Oh."_

_ There was an awkward pause, filled with unnatural silence that discomforted Anko immensely. Seeking a distraction from it, she rested her eyes upon Tayuya and studied her. _

_ Had Anko not had her life saved by this girl, she would have never assumed she was capable of even the simplest of physical activities. While she was somewhat taller than Anko, Tayuya was skinner than the bars of the cages around them and the great effort it seemed to take her to even breathe made Anko amazed that she'd been able to kill the owner of that first voice so easily._

_ 'She's strong,' Anko thought once again, this time in private. _

_ This opened up a plethora of feelings within Anko, yet the common thread of these emotions was that they made her want to be around this girl and understand her. But how?_

_ A memory of a past conversation Father had had with the guy in glasses suddenly entered her mind. _

_ "Father's making a new squad soon," Anko blurted out. _

_ Tayuya glanced at her curiously and Anko knew she couldn't go back._

"_They'll have the same privileges as me," she continued hesitantly, "and if I recommend you for it, Fath—Orochimaru-sama would definitely let you in."_

_ The deep brown eyes of Tayuya widened and hope seemed to glimmer in them for a moment. These same eyes swiftly darkened, however, and she demanded, "What's the catch?"_

_ Anko scrunched up the hems of her shirt with her hands and then quickly replied, "You have to train with me." _

_Tayuya looked a bit taken aback by this, but nevertheless turned away and stared at the ground in thought. After several moments, she turned back to Anko and asked disbelievingly, "You'd do this just to train with me? That's all?"_

_Grinning despite the seriousness of the situation, Anko nodded and replied, "Yep!"_

_ Tayuya stared at Anko for what felt like the longest time. Her eyes bored into her with an unreadable expression that initially made Anko nervous. After a while, however, she started to like the earnestness that glowed from within them. _

_Finally, Tayuya smirked happily and replied, "I suppose I could."_

_

* * *

_

"Tayuya-chan," Anko muttered sadly as the memory ran over and over again through her mind.

It was certainly one of her most poignant memories; or rather, it was a significant part of a collection of memories Anko had of the three years she'd spent with Tayuya. That time, so powerful that she could recall it at a moment's notice, was the most wonderful and most terrible of any she'd experienced up until she had met Naruto. After she'd gotten Orochimaru to let Tayuya into his elite group, Anko had immediately begun training and, most importantly, talking with her. Anko's curiosity had been insatiable and it had instantly clashed with Tayuya's blunt, no-nonsense personality. Added to that was the abuses Orochimaru began piling upon her as her own uses to him grew fewer and fewer. It had been the horror of one of these terrible happenings that had driven Anko to run away, after all.

Yet the moments that Anko and Tayuya spent together—from Anko striking Tayuya for the first time in their spars to the almost joyful way in which Tayuya described the intricacies of illusions one cool summer day—formed a bond more wonderful than anything Anko had ever known. The foundation of this bond was simplicity itself: Tayuya cared for her without any apparent cause. Truthfully, Anko did provide Tayuya with an escape from Orochimaru's twisted world that was as blissful as the release she received from Tayuya; but at the time, Anko had never experienced any form of love or respect that didn't require something more than her existence.

When it came time for Anko to flee, Tayuya had been supposed to go with her. Unfortunately, a guard had latched onto Tayuya's foot as soon as she tried to follow Anko into the outside world, which gave the other guards invaluable time to catch up. Every time Anko had tried to move her, the near-dead guard would clamp down upon Tayuya's skin and cause her to growl in fury. When the hurried footsteps of the guards finally met their ears, Tayuya had demanded furiously that Anko go on without her. In the end, she had and she would regret it forever afterwards.

Now, as Anko gazed upon the person who had pushed her through the darkness of Orochimaru, she didn't know what to do.

A rough tap on her arm abruptly roused her from her reverie. She glanced to her right at Naruto and found him staring at her worriedly.

"Don't look at me like that," she muttered weakly.

"Do you know them," he asked immediately.

_Perceptive little twerp_, she thought with grim humor.

She turned away from him in defeat and replied, "Yeah. Or rather, I know the girl at least."

Naruto didn't reply, making her feel worried for some odd reason. Anko returned her attention to him, but was surprised to see him staring at the girl intently. His ruby red eyes passed up and down her form with the curiosity of an animal, yet his face remained blank of emotion.

"How do you know someone from Suna," he asked suddenly, though it was in a way that suggested he didn't believe this.

"She's not from Suna," Anko admitted quietly as Gaara suddenly launched himself at the two newcomers, who dodged his wild attack easily.

"Was she a prisoner of Orochimaru's," Naruto asked suddenly.

She knew he had already figured out the answer. For that reason and many, many others, Anko didn't respond. There were too many emotions and memories within such an answer that could overwhelm her and make her useless in combat.

Naruto sighed wearily and then asked in what Anko imagined was the gentlest way he could manage, "Would she help us?"

Anko bit her lip and scrunched up the dirt beneath her with her fingers. It was soft and moist, imbuing within her a sense of simplicity that she longed to succumb to.

"Anko?"

She frowned at Naruto's voice, for it reminded her of one of the first things that had entered her mind upon seeing Tayuya: would she forgive her?

_After all_, she thought somberly, _I pretty much did the same thing to Tayuya that Naruto's teammates did to him. Will she…_

"If we could get their help Anko, it'd be really bene—"

"She'll help," she stated firmly. "She has to help."

She looked down at Naruto and found him to be glaring forward with gritted teeth. It might have been a comical sight if the situation had been any less serious.

"All right," he muttered with sudden fervor, "I'll attack Gaara and give you time to go talk with her. Of course, I could just use _that_—"

"No," Anko cut in sharply and immediately. "Pain and Konan told you that you were only to use it when absolutely necessary."

"Okay," he agreed loudly, "I get it. I was just coming up with an alternative option to our plight, but you make a fair point and I have conceded to it. Now here's what we'll do."

Anko blinked at the rapid change in subject, but her years spent with the tennis ball-like mind of Naruto had made her all but numb to such things.

"I'll attack him with a few Kaze Bunshin, get him riled up and the like," Naruto stated with the air of a commander, "while you go contact Tayuya. If she agrees to help, have her use the long-range jutsu—I'm guessing she isn't close range?"

Anko nodded quickly.

"Right," Naruto continued, "so have her begin setting up a network of jutsu to test the extent of Gaara's abilities. If her companion is willing, I want him—he's close range?"

Anko nodded again.

"Good," he remarked sharply. "I want you to tell—no, _suggest_ to him that he attack Gaara directly. That guy looks pretty strong, so he could be a good test of the strength of Gaara's defenses. With the Kaze Bunshin and the melee of the guy—"

"Jirobo," Anko cut in abruptly. "His name's Jirobo."

"Whatever," Naruto remarked with a sneer. "With the Kaze Bunshin and _Jirobo_ distracting Gaara, Tayuya should have plenty of time to do whatever she does. If she turns out to be too weak to do anything substantial, we still have Shinja. I want you to be summoning as much of him as you can, okay? We have to keep Gaara from going into a full transformation, but we can't kill him. Shinja will do what it does and then we can get the hell out of this damned place. Sound good to you?"

Anko flitted through it mentally for but a moment and then nodded her consent.

"Good," he replied quickly. "Let's go."

They both crouched down into the ground for a fraction of a second and the leapt off into the air, tearing the wind around them with the velocity of the bodies. Anko watched Naruto speed towards Gaara out of the corner of her eye. The Suna Jinchuriki was currently occupied fending off columns of soil shooting out of the ground in front of him, allowing Naruto to get into perfect position for a sneak attack.

Anko turned away just as an explosion roared throughout the arena.

She grimaced as she continued sprinting towards Tayuya, for the arena suddenly seemed miles long and the time it took to reach her destination an eternity. Her speed was so great that her feet barely touched the ground as she ran; yet, the familiar form of Tayuya, infinitely magnified by Anko's emotions, never drew closer.

Tayuya suddenly twitched and turned towards Anko's direction.

Her heart beating furiously, Anko realized that she was mere yards away from her former compatriot and fellow sufferer at the hands of Orochimaru.

Anko's hands were trembling as she brought herself to a halt in front of Tayuya's fierce and questioning gaze.

"Who the fuck are you," Tayuya demanded in a dangerous voice that was like music to Anko's ears.

Taking a deep breath, Anko looked into Tayuya's eyes.

At first, the orange-haired girl merely stared back, her face blank of emotion. And then, in a shock of change that made Anko's heart tinge with nervous energy, realization dawned upon Tayuya. Her mouth fell open ever so slightly and her eyes widened with emotion

"A-Anko…"

Anko winced beneath the emotional force that was behind Tayuya's voice, but kept her gaze focused onto those dark brown eyes. It wasn't that hard, considering that it had been those same eyes that had guided her through Orochimaru's whimsical hell. Yes, they had changed and hardened with time, but Anko knew that she would forever be able to see what lay within them.

"Hey…Tayuya-chan."

Anko felt the strangest mixture of grief and happiness when Tayuya wrapped her arms around her and gruffly hugged her tightly to her chest. A strangely wonderful scent, that was a combination of autumn wind and sweat, greeted Anko as her face was planted into Tayuya's chest.

The idea of saying something, anything, never occurred to her at all. She simply smiled and allowed herself this one wonderful pleasure. She had spent over four years trying to bury the guilt of abandoning Tayuya in that wretched place and that had forced her to stamp out all of the emotions tied to her memories of Tayuya. But, it seemed that she had merely repressed them and now that Tayuya—her Tayuya—held her at this very moment, they all came rushing back.

Anko suddenly felt herself shoved away from Tayuya. Before she could protest, however, she found that it was Tayuya who had pushed her back and that she had done so merely to inspect her. Brown eyes scanned Anko's body like cautiously, as if she might have a particularly dreadful disease.

"I'm fine Tayuya," Anko began to complain, but stopped when she realized that it was the first real thing she'd said to Tayuya in four years.

Turning away in uncharacteristic shyness, Anko mumbled, "But thanks anyways."

"I thought I told you never to look away from someone," Tayuya stated abruptly, her voice a strange mixture of mild disappointment and happiness.

Anko turned back to Tayuya in shock, aghast at her words, but was relieved to see Tayuya smirking.

Grinning, Anko retorted playfully, "That's the best you can say after all this time? Hell, I should've expected as much. You never were good with words."

"And you're still an annoying little fuck," Tayuya replied smoothly.

Anko had to use all of her willpower to keep from giggling in delight. Tayuya would've killed her had she done something so…_wrong_. Yet, even committing such a heinous crime would have been well worth the humiliation if it properly expressed the pure joy that raced through her body now. She and Tayuya were together again, with no Orochimaru tormenting them endlessly.

"You've grown," Tayuya commented bluntly as she eyed the top of Anko's head warily. "You'll catch up to me soon…maybe."

Anko felt as if she was glowing like a star. She had been afraid they'd have nothing to say to each other, nothing to relate to any longer now that they were both free from the one thing that had been the focus of their lives: escaping Orochimaru. But here they were only moments into reuniting and already they were talking as if the last four years had never happened.

Riding this wave of happiness, Anko asked, "So, how did you, y'know, 'get out'?"

Tayuya narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"What do you mean," she asked curiously.

Anko rolled her eyes and replied, "You know exactly what I mean. Don't play coy or nothin'. I wanna know! You probably outdid my escape just to show me up, right? Hell, you even got into one of the big countries. I only got into Ame, but it's a little better than you think."

"Escape," Tayuya began to inquire, cutting off Anko's delightful tirade, "what are you tal—"

Tayuya's face darkened so quickly that Anko's happiness came to an abrupt halt.

"What's wrong Tayuya," Anko asked immediately.

For the first time in Anko's life, she watched Tayuya turn her eyes away from her in shame.

"I didn't escape, Anko," she said finally, as if she was fighting to get the words out of her mind and into the air.

Anko felt the air escape her lungs like that of a deflated balloon. What replaced it, however, was furious denial.

"What the hell are you talking about," she demanded, furious at what she felt was Tayuya's stupidity. "You had to have escaped, or otherwise you wouldn't be with Suna!"

_But, now that I think about it_, Anko realized with growing terror as she unconsciously looked over the outfit Tayuya was wearing, _her clothes seem really familiar. I-it actually looks a lot like what Orochimaru and his guards always wor—NO!_

Tayuya looked at her mournfully. She brought a steady hand up to the collars of her two shirts and pulled them down to expose the majority of her neck. She turned her body around so that the nape of her neck was visible to Anko, revealing three small black lines extending outward from the center of her neck. It was a Curse Mark.

"I'm sorry Anko."

"N-no," Anko stuttered out in a horrible, childish whine, "no, no, no, no…"

"Orochimaru put it on me right after you got out," Tayuya continued mercilessly, though her words were far from cruel in intent.

"You said," Anko shrieked, "you said you'd get out! Why didn't you get out? _WHY?_"

Misery tore at Anko's insides like a vicious razor as she wrathfully watched Tayuya conceal her Curse Mark once again beneath her shirts. The misery was only made worse by the memory of the joy she'd felt upon seeing Tayuya alive.

Tayuya stared at her with a terrible menagerie of emotions in her chocolate eyes.

Anko turned away and covered her face with her hands as she felt a familiar pain in her head. Tears of frustration, of anger, of hurt, and of longing began forming along the rims of her eyes.

Whether it was merely divine inspiration or the wondrous workings of a mind teetering on the brink of collapse she would never know. What she did know was that a memory from long ago appeared in her head with the casualness of a blooming flower. The tears that had been ready to fall down her face rescinded back into her eyes and strength filled her limbs once again.

She whirled around and grabbed a stunned Tayuya by the shoulders.

"I know how to free you," she hollered in a wild voice, "I know how!"

Tayuya, dazed by Anko's sudden energy and by the emotional weight of the claim laid before her, merely blinked in response.

"Back when I first met Naruto," she began rapidly, "I was training with him and, and…and he starting making fun of me! But he wasn't doing it to be cruel. He was being mean to make me access my chakra, which I wasn't doing because of my Curse Mark! Finally, I got so, so, _so _angry that I pushed chakra into my Curse Mark and it began spreading over my body. I pounded Naruto into the ground like he was nothing and I almost killed him. But then something happened with his eyes and—look for yourself!"

Anko ripped her coat and undershirt away from her collarbone to reveal the left side of her neck. After countless examinations, Anko knew that the only thing that resided there was a faint black teardrop.

Tayuya, who had seen Anko's Curse Mark countless times whenever they had trained together, gaped at the nearly blank patch of skin.

"How did he do it," she demanded immediately. "How Anko?"

"I-I don't know," she admitted with a hint of despair, "but it doesn't matter! It still worked for me and it can work for you too! Come back with us after we capture Gaara and we can get that stupid thing off you."

Tayuya stared at her, too stunned to do anything else.

"Come on Tayuya," Anko nearly screamed, "how could you want to stay with _him_?"

Tayuya's hardened with such force and fearsomeness that Anko found her throat suddenly dry.

"Of course I don't want to stay with that _snake_," she hissed venomously. "It's just that this is the first time I've seen you in years and you just up and want me to leave the place that's been my home for more years than I care to count."

"That _place _is no more your home than a prison cell," Anko stated bluntly.

Tayuya smiled humorlessly and replied, "Yeah. I guess I just…we'll have to be really careful Anko."

Anko felt her heart skip a beat.

"You mean…you'll do it," she asked hopefully.

Tayuya narrowed her eyes angrily, but Anko could clearly see the smirk beginning to develop on her face.

"Yeah, I'll do it," Tayuya began, "but it'll only work if we can slip past Orochim—"

* * *

_Many moments earlier_

A sandy tendril swept past a Kaze Bunshin's face, missing by an amount too small for him think about. Three more tendrils came at the clones, followed by a fist the size of Naruto's own torso. Naruto watched the mass of _issui_ surrounding the attacking entities for only a moment and then immediately had his clones disappear into the wind to avoid them. Gaara's attack hit nothing but air.

The clones reappeared beside him, crimson eyes following the movements of Gaara's tendrils blankly. It was at times like this that Naruto was truly thankful for his Kekkei Genkai. While it was true that he could only manipulate _issui _when in his _Niikagi_ state, he was able to send small ripples when in his _Ichikagi_ state through the _issui _to anything connected to his chakra network, such as his clones. It was almost as if he was using the _issui _as strings and the Kaze Bunshin as puppets. He would send a tremor through the _issui _in a certain direction and they would move in that direction. It had taken a great deal of practice, but he could even command a single clone to perform jutsu. As a result, he currently had two clones amongst his seven who were packed with enough chakra to perform a single jutsu each.

He suddenly spotted the _issui _of a sand tendril speeding straight towards his head and immediately ordered two of his clones to deflect it. They rushed towards the tendril immediately and when they met it, they exploded into two bursts of wind that pushed it far away from Naruto.

As Naruto watched a second tendril begin to move towards him, he was struck by an idea that was wonderfully ill-advised. Grinning mischievously, he ordered a jutsu-clone to attack Gaara directly.

The multitude of tendrils around Gaara shimmered as the Suna Jinchuriki eyed the clone racing towards him. Three tendrils and Gaara's extended fist suddenly sped towards the Bunshin, flying through the air with the speed of birds. Then tendrils moved far faster than the fist and when they were mere feet away from his clone, one of them sped up past the other two and launched itself towards the clone's head. Naruto instantly had it cock its cranium to the side, causing the tendril to miss completely. When the tendril snapped back around to crush the clone's neck as Naruto had expected it to, he ordered the clone to abruptly crouch low to the ground, again effectively dodging the tendril's attack

The second and third tendrils immediately hurtled towards the clone's body like kunai, but Naruto had the clone flip over the nearer of the two and then bend under the remaining one, leaving the last attacking object: Gaara's extendable arm upon which was attached a monstrous clawed hand.

The tendrils and the fist, both speeding towards the clone, left no avenue for escape…save for one.

When the demonic hand was mere inches from the Bunshin's fragile body, Naruto tugged his clone down to the ground directly beneath the hand, allowing the deadly fist to pass over the clone harmlessly for a fraction of a second.

The clone's hands suddenly began forming a blur of seals as Naruto rapidly began tugging the _issui _in the formation of a jutsu. When the clone ended on the Dragon hand seal, Naruto whispered quickly, "_Kaze Hira no Jutsu_."

The fist and tendrils were not fast enough to stop the Kaze Bunshin from slamming its palm into Gaara's demonic forearm. Naruto smirked as a blast of wind tore apart the appendage with the veracity of a tornado. It tore through the air with a scream, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.

The force of the attack dispelled the clone instantly, however, and Naruto was left with only one that could use jutsu. Though, given that he had just destroyed one of Gaara's main methods of attack, he felt the loss was more than justified.

Gaara screamed in a voice as shrill as a child's as his stub of an arm whipped around uselessly.

_All right_, Naruto thought excitedly, _his arm's down, so it's time to press the attack._

Just as Naruto began moving his clones into another formation to capitalize on this momentary pause in Gaara's defenses, however, a deep voice suddenly called out, "_Rakanken: Gangeki!_"

Naruto watched in shock as a large fist slammed into Gaara's chest. The Suna Jinchuriki had only a moment to look stunned before he was rocketed across the ground and into the stone foundations of the arena. Naruto made to glance at the owner of the fist, but found himself staring at the fat man (Jirobo, if he remembered correctly) that had come with Tayuya

"My Lord said that you would be tough," Jirobo proclaimed mockingly to Gaara, "but it seems as though you're just another weakling."

Naruto stared at Jirobo in shock, his eyes twin dots of exasperation.

_Is he an idiot_, Naruto wondered to himself in mild amazement. _You'd think he'd have read up on Gaara's psychological profile a bit._

"A weakling," a thin, quiet voice asked abruptly, causing both Naruto and Jirobo to look around for its source.

The mystery was promptly solved when the dust around Gaara's landing site settled and revealed him to be standing perfectly erect before them, his sand whirling about him in a majestic dance very similar to that of the _issui_.

"You think I am a weakling," Gaara queried in that same soft voice.

His red hair fell down over his eyes, concealing them in shadow.

"Perhaps," he continued with soft menace, "ripping you open with Mother's fingers will show you the 'truth': that _you_ are the weak and I…I am the strong!"

Gaara turned up towards Naruto and Jirobo, revealing his insane eyes. Sandy tendrils sped down like arrows towards Naruto and Jirobo's exposed chests.

Naruto grimaced at the sheer amount of _issui _in the attack, but nevertheless rolled to the side as his clones intercepted the tendrils and were slammed into the empty space where he had once been.

He flipped up into a standing position, pumped chakra into his legs, and then leapt backwards away from the countless more tendrils that rushed towards him.

"_Doton: Doroku Gaeshi!_"

A thick, rectangular wall of mud erupted from the ground in front of Naruto, forcing the tendrils back for the time being. Naruto glanced at Jirobo, who stood behind several dozen feet away from the wall impassively.

"Don't die on me Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru," the fat man called out abruptly, "cuz I'm gonna need your help to take this kid out."

Naruto nodded hurriedly to Jirobo, but inwardly felt a great deal of suspicion, due entirely to the fact that this guy was working for Orochimaru. It was true that he had asked Anko to acquire Jirobo's aid, but this Jirobo had done so far too willingly for Naruto's liking.

_I'll have to worry about that later_, he thought begrudgingly. _My mission right now is to take down Gaara and get him back to Ame._

His mind racing through several options, Naruto glanced at Jirobo and ordered, "Make more of those barriers for just a little longer, but do it in a way that forces the tendrils towards myself."

"Why," Jirobo asked calmly.

"I have a jutsu that can completely repel them," he replied, "but I can't attack while I'm using it. I need you—"

"—To attack in your place," Jirobo finished with a smirk.

More tendrils erupted from the stub of Gaara's arm and sped towards Jirobo like demonic snakes. Naruto smirked and began forming a series of seven hand seals. Several more barriers popped up in a horizontal line in front of Jirobo, forcing the tendrils to veer towards Naruto.

When they were mere feet away, Naruto finished his hand seal sequence with the Dragon seal once more and then uttered, "_Kaze Taka no Jutsu_."

A wall of wind burst into existence around him and knocked back the tendrils as if they were flies. The wind whipped around him in a frenzy, tearing up the dirt and grass beyond repair, The tendrils were wrapped up in this maelstrom and disintegrated into mere grains.

From behind his protective shield, Naruto watched Gaara glare at him viciously. His face suddenly contorted in an expression very similar to curiosity and he tilted his head to the side ever so slightly, as if debating something with himself. He glanced at his severed arm and then at both Jirobo and Naruto. Before either of them could do anything, Gaara suddenly flung his arm behind him and then whipped it around towards the both of them. The arm extended like a tree branch, racing through the air with the mind-boggling speed of a perfectly thrown kunai. It collided first with the barriers of Jirobo, snapping them in half and knocking Jirobo far back into the arena wall. The arm them descended upon Naruto and collided into the wind with a loud _BOOM_, causing Naruto's eardrums to rattle painfully and his hands to nearly split off from his seal.

When the dust cleared, however, Naruto's jutsu remained intact and Gaara was left with nothing but an even more mutilated arm. Gaara retracted his arm solemnly and then gazed upon Naruto with two emotions in his very different eyes. The desire lingering in that demonic orb was quite obvious: insane hunger; yet, the human eye seemed to be guided by a curiosity that mixed with the terrifying bloodlust horrifically.

Naruto grimaced at the grotesque emotions dancing across Gaara's face, but forced himself to focus on the next step in his plan.

_I have to knock him unconscious quickly_, he thought anxiously, _and that oaf Jirobo won't be any help. _

He glanced at the crater that Jirobo resided in and sighed exasperatedly. The fat man was technically conscious, but not helpfully so. His head was lolling around in a daze, leaving him useless to Naruto now.

_All right_, Naruto told himself as he closed his eyes in thought, _I need a way to knock Gaara unconscious. A _Kaze Yaiba _might do it, but even if I got past that damnable sand, I might kill him if I missed. I could trap the remainder of his arm in a small tornado, use _Kaze Bunshin_ to distract the tendrils, and then knock him out with a light _Kaze Hira _to the face. That could work…if he didn't have the demonic strength to break out of the tornado and then rip me into little Naru-pieces._ _Ugh…what the hell do I do?_

The scene around Naruto might have been perfect for solving such a complex problem, yet the wriggling sand tendrils that were dispatching the "Chuunin" could not be ignored. Despite this, he was calmed by the protective wind spinning around him, which was as quiet as a breeze despite the ferocity and speed with which it moved. Naruto had intentionally designed this trait into the jutsu after many laborious weeks of studying the devastating losses inflicted upon an Ame ambush force by a defending group of Suna nin during the Second Great Ninja War that was due in large part to the completely silent barriers of wind that had surrounded the Suna—

A rushed jumble of sound interrupted Naruto's thoughts abruptly, causing him to cautiously search for its source through the silver strands of his hair.

_A haircut might be in order_, he thought sourly as he offhandedly had a puff of wind blow his hair to the side of his face.

As the last strand of hair blew across his vision, he noticed Gaara finishing the final touches on the reformation of his lost arm.

_W-what_, Naruto thought horrifically as the one demonic orb of Gaara's eyed him hungrily. _He can regenerate? But it was an arm! Only a higher class Bijuu could heal an arm that quickly, unless… _

Naruto scanned Gaara's body frantically in search of an answer, but found himself too distracted by the vicious motions of that oversized, muscle-bound arm—

_Oversized_, Naruto realized with a start. _His right arm is bigger than his left, but that's not because it physically grew. The sand of his gourd merely added on to it, making it as big as it is now. I must have hit it at a point below his actual human arm. Yet, he still cried out in pain when I severed it from his body. That would imply that it was attached to him, but it's just sand. It couldn't actually attach itself to his nerves, could it?_

His thoughts were rudely interrupted by one of the most horrific roars Naruto had ever heard. Sand was suddenly flailing around Gaara insanely, yet the Suna Jinchuriki only seemed to care about clawing at his head. Something had happened. Something bad.

"_**WHY MOTHER**_," Gaara cried out frantically, "_**WHY DO YOU HURT ME SO?**_"

Naruto grimaced when he felt a surge of _issui_ and cursed begrudgingly, "God dam—"

Gaara whipped his arm to the side, sending a massive drill of wind straight into Naruto's shield. The collision of air produced a cacophony of sounds that tore at Naruto's ears as he was rocketed through the air. The last thing he saw before feeling his back smash into the stone of the arena wall was a whirling, writhing monster leaping into the air.

* * *

A roar sounded throughout the entire arena with resounding force, silencing all voices that dared to challenge it.

It was Gaara. His body was now a mass of demonic sand, thrashing around him ferociously. This fleshy substance was rapidly crawling across his skin, causing him such agony that he screamed inhumanly.

His scream suddenly devolved into another roar. Gaara crouched down low near the ground and then catapulted high into the air, sailing far away from the arena floor towards the forest outside of Konoha.

Far below the Jinchuriki, Anko bounded across the sand nimbly towards Naruto. Tayuya ran just a few feet behind her, gazing across the rough ground impassively as they leapt over the hundreds of yards that separated them from Naruto. They'd seen Naruto get punched into a wall and had rushed towards him as soon as they could. As they drew closer to him, the bruises that dotted his body due to his collision with the arena wall became more and more apparent.

_He's been through worse_, Anko reasoned quickly.

They soon reached the small crater that housed Naruto's slight form. Anko gently lifted him out of the hole and then, with equal gentleness, dropped him onto the ground.

Naruto jerked up with a start upon impacting with the dirt.

"Wha' happened," he mumbled incoherently, shaking his head wearily as he sat up.

"You let Gaara kick your ass into a wall," Anko answered bluntly.

"Ah."

Anko smirked as she watched Naruto groggily stand up and look around him, but felt her heart leap when she noticed his eyes were blue.

"Turn your Kekkei Genkai on, boy," Tayuya ordered sharply. "Those eyes ain't worth shit like that."

Naruto's eyes became a deep shade of red instantly and, though his face likely appeared impassive to Tayuya, Anko could see anxiety in his strained lips.

Seeking to move past the subject as quickly as possible, Anko remarked dryly, "Tayuya says hello."

Naruto smirked appreciatively and turned to Tayuya.

"It's an honor," he said with a bow.

"How would you know if it's an honor to meet me or not," Tayuya asked suspiciously.

"Because Anko's told me a lot about you," he replied.

Tayuya stared at him a moment longer and then nodded approvingly.

"Okay," Anko asked hopefully. The two of them nodded, Naruto cheerfully and Tayuya carelessly.

"Good," Anko exclaimed happily, visions of the three of them fighting together already consuming her imagination, "then let's g—!"

"What about him," Naruto asked suddenly.

He was pointing at Jirobo, the massive form of whom was currently slumbering contentedly amidst the rubble around him.

Tayuya rolled her eyes and replied bluntly, "Leave the ass where he is. The cocksucker's loyal to the snake. We have to hurry to catch Gaara anyway."

Anko needed no other encouragement. Chakra raced throughout her limbs at her will, burning throughout like a great ray of sunlight. Grinning like a cat, she leapt into the air and sailed towards the sky. She landed on a pillar near the top of the arena, but a perfectly timed leap later and she was soaring once again over the massive structure. A hundred yards or so in front of her were the walls of Konoha and past them was the forest of Konoha. Gaara's unmistakable chakra signature oozed out of the ancient trees like a great flare, drawing Anko and her compatriots towards them as if they were moths.

She landed on a rooftop and then quickly jumped to another one. She couldn't afford to do too many of those "power" jumps again. The idea of not being able to continue fighting beside Tayuya and Naruto due to chakra exhaustion made her ill.

_I won't let them down_, Anko told herself firmly. _I'll never let them down!_

_

* * *

_

Sasuke watched the three figures warily as they bound away towards the outskirts of Konoha.

On the ground beside him lay the dead bodies of the unfortunate shinobi who had been possessed by Jinkoumaru's jutsu. Looking down at them, he supposed he could say that he had finally taken a life.

Behind him stood Sakura, who, despite having passed out earlier, had managed to revive towards the end of the fight to kill the final puppet. Tenten was still out of it and Sasuke had no intention of waking her. She might have opposed his plans.

_No I haven't_, he corrected immediately. _These were just mindless animals in human form. They took long enough to die. I didn't think they'd keep attacking after I'd dismembered them. What a waste of time…_

He scowled and turned to Sakura.

"We have to go after them," he uttered softly, referring to Jinkoumaru and his group. "They're probably heading after Gaara, so they'll most likely lead us to him."

Protest glimmered fiercely in Sakura's eyes.

"We should wait for backup," she replied firmly.

Sasuke had anticipated this and responded calmly, "Reinforcements would have been here already if they were coming. Something's had to have happened to holding the Genin up. If we wait any longer for something that's not coming, Jinkoumaru will get his hands on Gaara."

"What if he's trying to kill Gaara," Sakura retorted persistently. "Wouldn't that just be helping us?"

Sasuke shook his head immediately.

"Jinkoumaru won't kill Gaara," he explained. "Otherwise, he wouldn't have attacked us. He was probably awake the entire time Kakashi was giving us our orders. He knew we were getting prepared to fight and kill Gaara. If he was going to something that our side wanted, why did he attack us? Besides that, Gaara is a valuable asset in battle. Jinkoumaru likely wants to obtain him for Ame."

"Then why was that Suna kunoichi going with them," Sakura asked skeptically.

Sasuke's scowl deepened. Sakura had clearly been paying attention to Jinkoumaru's activities while they were fighting.

"I'm not sure," he admitted, "but if my theory's correct, she might be an Ame spy."

Sakura bit a corner of her lip in thought and glanced away from him. Before he could get impatient, however, she replied, "All right. If anything, we should at least monitor what they're doing."

He nodded approvingly at her and then leapt out of the Genin booth towards the forest. There was no more need for words. They had to find Jinkoumaru as quickly as they could, making useless prattle dangerous to their mission.

Sasuke glanced behind him and was relieved to find Sakura only a few feet away. He'd need her if they found themselves in a fight with either Jinkoumaru's group or Gaara.

_We probably won't have to worry about them teaming up on us_, he thought analytically as they landed on the arena roof and then took off across it towards the nearest rooftop. _Gaara will attack anyone, so one of the groups will be dead by the time we get there. The remainder will be our target._

He glared viciously into the air as the wound in his leg flared up. Sakura's jutsu hadn't been designed for rapid healing. It was a basic technique used by medic-nin to patch up a wound over a long period of time, meaning it was not meant for quick fix-ups. Sakura was lucky she hadn't died from all the chakra she'd pumped into it. The thought of how close he'd come to losing Sakura made his stomach churn painfully.

His glare became murderous. Jinkoumaru would die for attacking him…and Sasuke would make sure he burned in hell for endangering Sakura.

* * *

_Issui _roared in front of him like a great storm, thrashing and slicing the air with terrible ferocity. The golden slivers of light were a magnificent star amidst the trees and they weighed down upon the atmosphere with suffocating force.

Naruto eyed the writhing mass warily. He hadn't been chasing Gaara's _issui _signature for long, but already they'd reached the shell of the Suna Jinchuriki's killing intent. If they entered it, they would be bombarded with such force that he doubted they would even be able to move.

_I'll have to part them_, he realized resignedly.

"I'm going into _Niikagi_," he announced suddenly to Tayuya and Anko, who stood beside him on the same thick branch. "The killing intent's too strong."

Naruto saw Tayuya turn to Anko in confusion, but he paid her no mind. He instead formed a Ram sign below his sternum with his right hand and began concentrating chakra into his eyes. Energy flooded into his sight instantly, heightening and intensifying his vision.

When he felt his eyes beginning to sting, Naruto cried, "_Niikagi!_"

The chakra within him burst forth from within, blowing leaves and debris around him in a vicious cyclone. His Yuutai Henge dissolved instantly, taking with it the changes that had made him Jinkoumaru. The tone of his skin darkened lightly and his hair became golden and smooth, falling across his face and shoulders elegantly. Finally, his pupils elongated and became thin black lines that cut through his crimson irises.

When the transformation was completed, Naruto sighed contentedly and stretched his arms out. Being in _Niikagi_ always made him feel as if a great weight had been lifted off of him, though he knew that the near euphoric feeling would vanish if he stayed in this state for too long. It would instead be replaced by agony and then a nightmare-ridden coma.

_Hopefully I won't need to use it for too long_, he thought to himself grimly.

Naruto looked back and noticed that both Anko and Tayuya had leapt away several feet behind him.

"It's okay now," he called out. "Both of you come here so I can protect from you them."

"From _what_," Tayuya shouted impatiently as she and Anko jumped back towards him.

"Gaara's killing intent," Naruto answered simply.

Tayuya landed beside him and gave him a disbelieving stare. Anko was right behind her, though she seemed oddly happy.

"Your Kekkei Genkai can shield us from killing intent," Tayuya asked doubtfully.

Without even answering, Naruto raised his hands up in front of Anko and Tayuya's chests.

"_Suihou_," he commanded.

Anko and Tayuya's _issui _immediately moved to obey Naruto's orders, spreading away from their bodies and forming a protective, golden barrier around both of them.

"What'd he do," Tayuya demanded suspiciously, her brown eyes darting around the area for any signs of change.

"He made a shield to protect us from Gaara's killing intent," Anko explained.

"Really," Tayuya asked apprehensively. "How well will it hold up?"

Anko shrugged.

"I dunno," she replied carelessly. "How long will it hold up Naruto?"

Naruto bit his lip, but a roar exploded from within the ball of _issui _before he could come up with an answer.

"Come on," he ordered them, "we have to get him before he goes too far into his transformation. Stay close!"

He then leapt off of the branch and sped straight into the great mass of _issui_, all the while hoping that his shields would hold up under the horrendous pressure.

As the golden mass zoomed closer, Naruto could not help but wonder if he would know when he was inside of it. A suffocating pressure collapsed upon him, answering his question resoundingly. Desperate to relieve his pain, he spread his arms out with his hands extended and willed the attacking _issui _away with his chakra. If someone had ever tried to move a mountain, Naruto imagined that it must have felt something like this. All of Gaara's _issui _seemed to be crashing down upon him, weighing him down and crushing him with its weight.

_Move_, he shouted mentally at the _issui_. _MOVE!_

The pressure abruptly disappeared and glorious air filled Naruto's lungs once more. He didn't waste time enjoying it. As soon as the _issui _were surrounding him at a safe distance, Naruto took off. He glanced back and saw Tayuya and Anko following right behind him. The _issui_ rushed at them, but his shields repelled them admirably.

Sighing in relief, Naruto continued on.

* * *

Gaara's _issui_ was a sea of golden light similar to a painting of a stormy ocean that Pain had shown Naruto long ago. It rose and fell in chaotic cascades, putting together a very disturbing portrait of Gaara's mind.

_I used to be just like him_, Naruto realized worriedly as he leapt through the _issui_. _But why didn't I turn out like Gaara? What conditions in Suna caused such torment within him?_

Naruto was forced to put aside his questions when another roar exploded from within the forest, surprisingly causing Gaara's _issui _to go completely insane. The pressure of holding up Anko and Tayuya's shields, as well as his own, suddenly became greater. Anxious that he wouldn't have enough energy to fight if they didn't reach Gaara quickly, Naruto made a rapid motion with his hand to Anko and then took off.

The _issui _and trees became blurs of incomprehensible color as he sped onwards. Naruto could feel Gaara getting closer and closer, but this was evidenced best by the rapidly increasing amount of force weighing down upon him.

"D-damn," he cursed under his breath as an _issui _temporarily broke through his bubble and slammed into his chest.

It wasn't serious or anything, but Naruto didn't like what it portended for the very near future. He needed to find a way to push the _issui _back, but much of his strength was taken up with his shields and all three of them needed to be constantly increased in durability to withstand the _issui_.

Before he could expound further upon the problem, however, Gaara's writhing and demonic form came into sight.

He was crouched on a thick branch, but Naruto wasn't sure if "he" was the proper term anymore. The sand covering Gaara's body flailed around him like snakes, yet they did not conceal what had happened to the rest of his body. Oozing tendrils now consumed all of Gaara save for his feet and they were assuming a shape that was becoming more and more like the demon Gaara housed. In other words, Gaara was beginning to look like a mini Shukaku.

One of Gaara's golden eyes suddenly locked onto him and the lusting hunger that lay within them sent chills down Naruto's spine. Gaara roared and crouched even lower on the branch in preparation to charge.

The pressure of the _issui _and the shields, combined in a gruesome mixture with the raw power standing before Naruto, was too much.

_I'm going to have to use it_, he thought with grim finality.

Just as he formed a Ram sign in front of his chest, Anko and Tayuya landed beside him.

Anko was noticed the sign immediately and asked sternly, "What the hell are you doing?"

Naruto merely smirked.

"Don't Naru—!"

Gaara roared and leapt off of the branch towards him.

"_Sankagi!_"

* * *

**A/N****: **I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. Naruto's ability will be explained in detail. I also want to apologize for the long flashback. I felt that Anko and Tayuya's relationship needed a lot of depth, resulting in the behemoth that greeted you at the beginning. I also want to apologize if Tayuya seemed a little too emotional during the scene where she sees Anko for the first time in years. I felt that I got it as close as I could, but I am always open to suggestions that could have helped make that better. Another thing with Tayuya, I felt that I had to make her kind of OOC. I toned down her cursing a lot in this chapter, basically because I think that it detracts from her character. Let me know what you think and, again, I'm very open on suggestions on how to improve it.

Speaking of suggestions, I want to address some of my more volatile critics. By "volatile critics", I mean those who insult my story and my writing without providing me with any way to improve the writing that they disliked in the first place. These flamers also frequently criticize the direction of my plot and what actions my characters take, but then give me no tips on how to correct these mistakes. Now, I don't have a problem when these critics sign in and give me a chance to reply to their critiques. I also don't have a problem if they give me constructive criticism anonymously. Both actions allow me to understand the mistakes I made and then work to correct them.

When you write to me anonymously (and I am not referring to the many anonymous reviewers who have provided me with excellent advice and support) and criticize my writing in an unnecessarily negative manner, I get a little annoyed. If you have a problem with my story but just can't seem to find a way to help me improve what upset you, don't review. It's a simple concept and saves everyone a lot of time and irritation. Of course, one has their own reasons for not signing in and they might very well be perfectly legitimate. However, when presented with obvious flames, it's very hard to believe that the anonymous reviewers who write these flames aren't simply hiding behind that anonymity to protect themselves from backlash by the author.

A wonderful example is the anonymous reviewer who goes by the name "Dan". Dan, I appreciate that you care enough about my characters and story to be upset with certain events in the story, but the judgments you make are overhasty and end up being refuted by the chapter following them. For example, around the time after I had posted Chapter 14, you reviewed Chapter 8 and heavily criticized how weak Naruto was, despite the fact that Naruto constantly said that he was holding back; furthermore, you were furious that Naruto "lost" the battle to Neji. When Naruto was shown to be much stronger than originally perceived and your own argument made void, you did not comment.

At the same time, you make some wonderful points in your reviews that I would thoroughly enjoy talking with you about, one of the best of these being in concern with what Jiraiya did with Naruto after he incapacitated him. Another is your questioning of Gouzen's competency. It is for that reason that I wish you would sign in so we could discuss these things. But this is merely a wish and I completely understand that people have their own reasons for remaining anonymous.

The end result of this rant? I feel much better about myself and about my life. Maybe this is why people become flamers…

Now that the tirade is out of the way, it's on to some questions many of you have had. I've gotten this idea from numerous authors, but no one has done it more effectively than Thanathos. He's actually the main reason I'm making this Q&A section.

**Q:** What is Naruto's current power level?

**A:** Upper Chuunin level and this is after adjusting everyone else's power levels to be higher than they were in canon (I figured that, for example, a Chuunin coming right out of a war would be more powerful than a Chuunin during peacetime). My Naruto would have one hell of a battle with a "wartime" low-level Jounin (this is in terms of levels of power, not rank), but would get owned by a "wartime" high-rank Jounin (again, in levels of power, not rank). Naruto's Kekkei Genkai does have a special ability, however, that would allow him to fight an upper tier Jounin on nearly equal footing; but, he can't maintain this for very long at all.

**Q:** Why has Naruto made so many mistakes when he's been trained by an Akatsuki member?

**A:** Naruto is returning to the village that rejected him as a child, yet it is the home of the three people whom he held closest to his heart. At the same time, two of them abandoned him and left him to die. However, they abandoned him for a logically sound reason (they would have died without question), which prevents Naruto from feeling righteously angry towards them. As a result, you have a very distraught Naruto who can't seem to focus as much as he should on the task at hand. As time has worn on in Konoha, however, Naruto has gotten much more comfortable with viewing Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi as enemies. This is evidenced by how willing he was to attack them in the Genin booth. This means that the mistakes he's made will most likely not occur again.

**Q:** Will Naruto abandon Akatsuki?

**A:** No. A part of him will be drawn to his home, but Naruto will not abandon those who cared for him. However, Naruto will find himself increasingly conflicted about his mission as time goes on.

**Q:** Will Naruto return to Konoha or get captured by them?

**A:** I don't want to answer that, mainly because I'm not sure.

**Q:** Will Sakura and Sasuke discover Naruto's identity and, if so, when?

**A:** Yes and it will be soon.

**Q:** Why did Naruto tell Anko to go all out in the Finals and then fail to do so?

**A:** This was an excellent example of poor writing on my part. I meant for Naruto to make it seem like they were going "all out" in a playful and meaningless way. They didn't actually mean that they were going to use all of their power, but I failed to convey this and I deeply apologize.

**Q:** Why is Naruto not as strong as he should be after training with Akatsuki?

**A:** Many of you have been angry about the fact that Naruto, who has been trained by the Akatsuki, is not dominating his peers. First of all, Naruto will never dominate his peers. They're too talented for that and it would be an insult to them to depict them as weaker than they are. Secondly, they too are stronger than their canon counterparts due to the enhanced training and battle experience brought on by the war. However, if you really want a comparison in power between Naruto and the majority of the Rookie Twelve, think of the difference between Haku and Naruto or Haku and Sasuke during the Wave Arc in canon. Naruto is better than his peers, but not insurmountably so.

**Q:** Why was Naruto being a jerk during and directly after the Neji fight?

**A:** For the same reasons several of you have given to explain why Naruto should be stronger (he's been trained by the Akatsuki and has killed people whereas the Konoha genin haven't), Naruto is somewhat arrogant and snobbish when facing enemies he's confident that he can defeat. He's recognized this and developed a practice of mentally yelling at himself in order to lower his confidence and thereby prevent arrogant behavior, but this has only served to cause him to desire even more validation. This is beginning to grow into narcissism as Naruto's need for confidence (which has been spawned by his own feelings of inadequacy from his youth and the events in his life that have led him to feel unworthy of someone else's love) deepens. His ritual was an effort on his part to find acceptance from his victims. He will eventually grow out of this "comforting" ritual, but future events will cause Naruto to burrow even deeper into his narcissism.

**Q:** What is the special jutsu Naruto used in Chapter 16?

**A:** It's from the most recent filler arc in the anime. I figured it was pretty neat, so I decided to put it in the story. It's used by a guy named Shiranami if you're interested and it's called "Wordbind Jutsu".

Before I leave off, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to draw my Naruto for me, of if anyone knows an artist who would be interested in drawing my Naruto. Send me a message to let me know.

Oramo

_Kaze Hira no Jutsu_—"Wind Palm Jutsu": Sends of burst of wind out that blast apart any relatively hard material that the user's palm is touching. It is not nearly as powerful as the Rasengan, especially since it cannot last for any longer than a few seconds. The power of its attack weakens as the wind spreads outwards.

_Rakanken: Gangeki_—"Crushing Palm: Rock Attack": Also known as Arhat Fist, it is Jirobo's style of taijutsu, which is merely composed of basic physical attacks that are enhanced by Jirobo's strength.

_Doton: Doroku Gaeshi_—"Earth Release: Earth Shore Return"

_Suihou_—"Bubble"

_Sankagi_—"Third Key"


	18. Torimono

**A/N****: **Chapter Eighteen is up (finally) and we'll get to see what Naruto's _Sankagi_ does. I hoped everyone enjoyed "Utagai no Kaisen", despite its flaws.

And Dan, when I say that I was writing Chapter 14 by the time you had reviewed Chapter 8, that means Chapters 9-13 were written well before you had reviewed them. Therefore, it would have been impossible for me to change them just to refute you; unless, of course, I replaced it with new material. I obviously haven't done so and you can ask any reader who read my story before your review to validate that.

At the same time, however, you make a wonderful point about power levels and the meaning of fairness in the shinobi world. I'd forgotten that shinobi are assassins first and warriors second. I promise to remember it from now on.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 18 of _Naze?_, titled "Torimono".

Torimono

Hair, smooth and golden as the sun, whipped wildly around the head of its owner, who was a slender and fragile-looking boy. Red chakra soared around him, illuminating his skin with a hellish and ethereal light. Leaves tore around him at desperate speeds, wind swirled in a frenzy of motion, and the trees rattled with fear. Yet, the boy remained perfectly still. A pale constant in a menagerie of chaos.

_I…I feel so nice._

Naruto's eyelids slid open ever so slightly, revealing the strangest and most exotic eyes that the forest had seen in a long, long time. Crimson irises were split into thirds by pupils that were comprised of three sharpened lines shooting out from the center. The three points of the pupils did not touch the edge of the two irises and left enough room to be visibly surrounded by the red pool of the irises.

Memories of when he had practiced using the Third State of his Kekkei Genkai danced around him slowly. They were fuzzy and vague. He remembered feeling pain, but it had been afterwards. What had happened during his past attempts at _Sankagi_? He remembered what he had _done_, but his feelings…they were absent.

A fist slammed into Naruto's chest.

The leaves stopped their chaotic motion, the wind died down to a breeze, and the trees ceased their quivering.

Naruto stood atop Gaara's right shoulder motionlessly. He watched impassively from atop the demonic appendage as Gaara glanced at him shock. The Suna Jinchuriki then tried to whip one of his long arms behind him. It was in vain.

Naruto whispered, "_Kujiku_."

Gaara suddenly screamed in agony and wrapped his paws around his deformed head. His path through the air diverged towards the ground immediately and he soon began slamming through trees and branches with the force of a boulder.

Naruto had already leapt off of him and touched downed gracefully upon a nearby branch by the time Gaara had fell into the first bough.

"Naruto! NARUTO!"

He glanced to his left, mildly curious as to what was causing such noise. It was a body with violet hair and pupil-less eyes.

But it was Anko. He knew this creature's name. The site of her elicited one word within his mind: Anko.

Yet, the word held no meaning.

The muscles of the face moved and contorted, clearly signifying that the body desired something. But what did it matter? It was a mass of flesh, a thing connected by myriad veins and muscles that served only its need for survival. It made motions and movements, sounds and screams, yet Naruto saw them only as that: purely physical disturbances in a purely physical being. There was no meaning in it and he lost interest.

The _issui _suddenly twitched. Naruto glanced in the direction of the spasm, but found only a fist in his face.

Knuckles crashed into his cheek, smashing the skin across the bone and onto his nose. Pain cascaded throughout his face, causing strange colors and lights to burst across his vision like fireworks in a green field sweating beneath the sun.

_What is…what is this? _he thought groggily as emotions and meaning began returning to his mind.

Naruto staggered back in a daze across the wide bark of the branch, nearly slipping on the wet moss that covered it. A hand grabbed the loose garb of his neck cover, however, and held him in place on the great tree limb.

Everything was a blur. Even the hand in front of him was nothing more than a slosh of color. _Issui _mixed with the real world, lending everything a chaotic tint that helped not at all with Naruto's disorientation.

His body was suddenly reeled in from over the branch's edge and hugged close to something warm and soft. Hair, rough and strong, fell across his face as he was pressed further into the tender material.

A single word fell onto his ears. Naruto's eyes widened.

_What did they say?_ he asked himself.

Hot air gently passed through his ears as the person whispered the word once more:

"_Aishiteru…_"

Memories – of places, people, and love – burst into his mind with the speed of a lightning crack. Sasuke and Sakura crawling through that wet and filthy tunnel with him, Konan cradling him to her breast as his very skin screamed to the sky, Pain telling him of the world, Anko grinning at him as they walked through the rain…all of these flooded his consciousness like a mighty stream and he reveled in its wonder.

Naruto opened his eyes and was greeted by the beautiful sight of Anko's coat collar. The lower of half of his face was pressed against her black jacket as she hugged him tightly to her. The tenderness emanating from her body caused his body to numb in delight and he sighed.

With a start, Anko released him and jumped away to the other side of the branch. Naruto nearly shouted for her to return, but was surprised to see her face as red as blood. He cocked his head in confusion and then opened his mouth to ask her why. He was stopped, however, by the loud landing of Tayuya.

"What the hell was that?" the orange-haired girl demanded sternly.

Naruto didn't take his eyes off Anko as she replied with shy and downcast eyes, "I-it was the flaw of Naruto's _Sankagi_…"

"Flaw?" Tayuya queried instantly. "It has a flaw serious enough for you to ignore our enemy in favor of hugging this idiot?"

Naruto winced upon seeing Anko shoot Tayuya a most vicious glare. Despite this, Anko kept her voice low and calm as she replied, "Yes, it was far more serious. If I had let it go any longer, we would both be dead."

Tayuya stared at Anko incredulously, but any remark she might have made vanished when a terrifying roar exploded from the floor of the forest.

"Fuck!" Anko exclaimed as she rapidly formed the seals to a jutsu. "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_"

With a slam of Anko's hand and a great puff of smoke, a giant green snake with a pale underbelly and black patches dotting its scaly hide burst into existence around the tree branch that the three of them stood upon.

"Keep him busy, Heisotsu," Anko ordered the reptile immediately.

Naruto could have sworn he saw Heisotsu glare at her, but the expression was lost as soon as the snake began speeding its long coils down the tree.

"The transformation's already got too far," Anko stated seriously. "We can't let it go any further if we want to stay unnoticed by Konoha. Is your _Sankagi _still active, Naruto?"

A mighty hiss resonated throughout the forest beneath Naruto, signifying that Heisotsu had encountered Gaara. From the screeches and screams that came afterwards, it appeared that Gaara was gaining the upper hand very quickly.

"Naruto!" Anko exclaimed, breaking through his reverie violently.

"Er…yeah, it's still up," he answered shakily.

"What's wrong with him?" Tayuya demanded, her words nearly drowned out by a tree crashing to the ground.

"The _Sankagi _messes with his head a little," Anko replied unhelpfully.

Tayuya pursed her lips in confusion, but remained silent.

"We need to form a strategy to shut this asshole up," Anko continued, "Naruto's already dispelled Shukaku's killing intent for us, so we can attack him like normal. We're gonna need to start fast, 'cuz Heisotsu won't last much longer. Naruto, you're our point man. Tayuya and I will distract Gaara while you use _Torimono _on him, got it?"

"What's 'Torimono'?" Tayuya questioned as she sent a suspicious glare at Naruto.

Naruto winced as a bestial scream erupted from the forest floor and writhing _issui _erupted into his line of sight.

Anko was correct about his Kekkei Genkai messing with his head. Hell, he could _see_ Heisotsu's pain. The snake's _issui _were as visible and real as Anko and Tayuya's, despite the distance between the summon and Naruto. That was one of the powers of _Sankagi_. The amount of _issui _that Naruto could comprehend was increased exponentially, allowing him to use abilities like _Torimono _and _Kujiku_.

_Kujiku _in particular was lethal against anyone with as much killing intent as Gaara had, for it wrapped the _issui _of the killing intent around the wielder of said killing intent and then…strangled them with it. Naruto supposed that he could have even snapped Gaara's neck. Thankfully, he'd somehow remembered in his altered state of mind that Gaara was useless to Pain if dead. Consequently, Naruto had settled for chaining him to the ground with his own _issui _with a weaker version of _Kujiku_.

Unfortunately, this couldn't hold a being of Gaara's strength for very long, evidenced by the fact that the Suna Jinchuriki was now beating the hell out of a giant snake.

_What's even worse_, Naruto realized grimly, _is that the killing intent – while no longer a threat to the outside world – is even fiercer than before. I can still see it, but _Kujiku _bars it from messing with our heads. My effort to contain it, however, seems to have increased its intensity many times over, meaning that Gaara's probably much stronger. That's interesting…but ultimately for another time._

Naruto looked around him and found that, indeed, the ferocious _issui_ that had painted the forest gold were now even more violent, whipping through the air with the viciousness of a hurricane. They were quite the sight, these rivers of light and emotions. One of them was particularly vibrant, flowing and swirling through the air with careless abandon. It moved about with terrifying speed across the scowling faces of Anko and Tayuya—

He blinked and then quickly said, "_Torimono_ is one of the _Sankagi_'s most powerful techniques. It literally makes one's _issui _collapse in on itself, rendering them immobile and vulnerable to—"

"—Capture?" Tayuya suggested dryly.

Naruto smirked behind his neck cover and nodded.

Tayuya smiled thinly and remarked with an air of reluctance, "All right then. I'll prepare some genjutsu traps to lure Gaara next to those trees that are about ready to fall. And then Anko will…?"

"I'll replace Heisotsu as the main attacker," Anko supplemented, "while Naruto prepares _Torimono_. I'll use the collapsed trees to delay him."

A sick crunching noise suddenly made its way to them from the forest floor, causing Naruto's stomach to churn unpleasantly.

"Let's hurry," Naruto stated worriedly. "We have to stay ahead of Gaara. There's no telling how much his strength has increased—"

A light trickling sound unexpectedly met their ears, halting their conversation instantly. The trickling quickly became a downpour and they were soon drenched with some unknown liquid as it poured from the sky. Naruto unconsciously licked his lips and found the coppery taste of the liquid that coated them to be very familiar.

"Blood?" Anko asked out loud as she confusedly examined her red finger. "From what?"

A shadow suddenly blanketed the area where they stood, causing all of three of them to look up towards the patches of sky that could be seen beneath the canopy of leaves. Naruto's eyes widened horrifically as he saw a massive dark blur descending upon them from above.

Without word, all of three of them frantically dove away with chakra-powered legs. Seconds later, the body of Heisotsu crashed into the branch they had stood upon, easily crushing it with his great weight. This sent him hurtling down onto the lower branches, all of which he broke and fell through with horrific explosions of sound. Finally, he landed upon the thick and mighty center of one of the lowest limbs of a tree.

Heisotsu's defeat at the hands of Gaara was splayed out for all to see. Gashes, lacerations, cuts—none of these words were fit to describe the wounds that marred the snake's once sleek and fit body. Blood seemed to drip from his every orifice, creating a steadily growing pool of it below him on the forest floor. There was an infinitesimally small trickle of _issui _coming from him as well, signifying that he was near death.

A great puff of smoke consumed him within moments. When it dissipated, Heisotsu was gone

Naruto found Anko and Tayuya's positions easily via their _issui_. They were both healthy and safe, crouching low in separate trees that were some dozens of yards away from him. 

_Good_, he thought. _We can still implement the plan. _

An enormous weight suddenly descended upon the _issui _of the forest, pushing them out and away. The source of this weight became apparent to Naruto as soon as he saw a new, more brutal _issui _pattern replace that of the forest.

"Gaara," Naruto muttered as a small form darted across the trees towards Heisotsu.

Naruto looked at Anko and found her to be following the form as well. A quick glance at Tayuya's _issui_ told the same story.

The figure landed on a branch above where Heisotsu had been and stopped there, revealing its appearance. It was Gaara. There was no question in Naruto's mind that it was Gaara. The slight frame, the red hair, and the massive gourd adorning his back all spoke of the Suna Jinchuriki. There were some changes, however, from any Jinchuriki form that Naruto had ever seen or read of Gaara taking on.

The bulky mass of tendrils and sand that had covered him during their fight was gone now. Instead, it had been replaced by a sleek coating of what Naruto assumed to be sand that enveloped all of him save for the left side of his body above the waist line. A tail the same color as the "skin" that covered Gaara's body extended outwards and swayed back and forth slowly behind him.

Naruto felt a twitch in an _issui _pattern that was not Gaara's. Glancing in its direction, he found Tayuya placing the end of a thin silver object to her mouth. A mere squint of his eyes told Naruto that it was a flute.

_A medium for her genjutsu? _Naruto wondered mentally.

He remembered his sensei teaching him about the different methods in which illusions could be cast. Basically, it was like all jutsu in that it required a medium to be activated. Whether that medium be hand-signs, a finger, an eye, or, in this case, a flute, the genjutsu needed some way to get onto the _issui_ to travel to its destination. What made genjutsu unique when regarding it in such terms was that it required relatively little _issui _to travel along. As a result, Naruto found it incredibly difficult to detect even middle-class genjutsu.

Gaara's tale suddenly stopped moving, immediately drawing Naruto's attention onto him. Sand exploded out of the tale and launched itself at a nearby tree. The deadly bullets impacted the bark with immense force, ripping the tree asunder.

_What was he firing at? _Naruto wondered as he quickly examined the tree that Gaara had attacked.

The tail began swaying behind Gaara with even more vigor than it had before. It almost seemed agitated.

Gaara twitched and flung another barrage of sand bullets in the opposite direction, this time wiping out three small birch trees.

_Tayuya's genjutsu must be working_, Naruto realized. _I guess I should attack now._

Naruto quickly scanned the sea of _issui _around him for Anko's familiar pattern. He found it easily and followed its movements directly to her position. She lay silently behind a wide and dark oak, fingering the hilt of one of her large kunai. The oak was some distance away, making it impossible for Naruto to contact her without alerting Gaara. Fortunately, it didn't appear that he needed to.

Just as the last birch tree fell to the ground dead, Anko grabbed the blade she'd been stroking and flung it at Gaara's exposed back. It sailed through the air for only a moment before sand immediately sprouted out of Gaara's left shoulder like vines and knocked it away.

"_Ninpo: Koppamijin itte Senshi!_" Anko called out.

The kunai suddenly expanded like a balloon and then burst into an incalculable number of tiny black shards. The shards immediately launched themselves towards Gaara, dodging the sand tendrils as they went. They soon were within feet of Gaara's back, though Gaara still seemed to be occupied with Tayuya's genjutsu.

A wall of sand erupted out of Gaara's spine, absorbing the shards before they could come any closer. This finally seemed to get Gaara's attention, but Naruto already knew that it was too late for the Suna Jinchuriki.

"_Kunai Daibakuha!"_

Fire and destruction exploded around Gaara in great plumes. It expanded throughout the forest, lighting the trees and leaves with a hellish glow. Naruto hissed upon feeling the intense heat and leapt back to a branch that was at a much safer – and cooler – distance.

_How much chakra did she put into that?_ Naruto wondered after several moments away from the flames. He put his hand above his eyes and scowled.

"Too much," he answered for himself. "Those flames will attract all of Konoha. I'll have to finish this quickly…"

Naruto quickly formed a ram seal in front of his chest and began searching for Gaara's _issui_. To his mild surprise, it was easy to find. The ferocious swirls stood out like a sore thumb amidst the forest's own _issui_.

A sandy claw whipped out of the fire and crushed a branch near Anko's location, sending it hurtling to the ground. Gaara was preparing to attack Anko.

"No time," Naruto whispered hurriedly.

He started manipulating Gaara's _issui _into a structure to surround the fiery aftereffects of Anko's explosion jutsu. The golden _issui _bent with his will, rising higher and higher into the sky as a great, shining pyramid of light. Everything around it dimmed beneath its glory, so much so that Naruto almost failed to notice the claws of Gaara reaching out for Anko.

"_Torimono: Saisho Dankai!" _Naruto screamed.

The _issui _collapsed inwards instantly and whipped onto Gaara with crushing force. At the same time, pain erupted within Naruto's lungs like a thorn bursting from within the bosom of a rose. Despite this, he did not waver.

Naruto reached out and made a grasping motion with his hands, simulating the _issui _that now curled tightly around Gaara's limbs. He watched as the sharp tip of the Jinchuriki's sandy tail hovered menacingly in the air a few feet away from Anko, shivering with furious energy. The fire surrounding died away, revealing Gaara to be terrifyingly close to Anko. 

_Gaara's frozen_, Naruto thought as he breathed heavily and the pain in his chest grew worse, _which means I can begin the next step._

"_Torimono_," he called out, beads of sweat beginning to form along his brow line, "_Niban…D-Dankai…"_

Slowly, Naruto drew his hands towards the center of his chest, his ultimate goal being to clamp them together. As he did so, the noose of _issui _surrounding Gaara drew tighter around him. The demon-child tried to writhe about and escape, but the bonds were too tight and all he succeeded in accomplishing was emitting a muffled growl.

"Keep it up Naruto!" Anko shouted fiercely. "We've got the bastard now!"

Naruto brought his hands closer together. Gaara screamed in pain.

_ Tighter,_ he thought to himself desperately. _Tighter…_

He clenched his teeth with effort as his hands pushed against some ungodly force.

_Keep thoughts…simple_, he told himself. _Focus…focus…FOCUS!_

A small strand of _issui _floated in front of Naruto's face. Its make was odd, being far more fluid and unstable than any he had ever seen; yet at the same time, it flowed with great poise and control.

"How disappointing…Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru."

The pain in Naruto's chest multiplied tenfold and his hands flew to his sides as he gasped out in shock. He looked down and found himself staring at the black point of a foot-long piece of flesh sticking through his chest, coated in his own blood.

"Wh-what?" he gasped out, blood dribbling from his lips onto his chin and coat.

"You underestimated me," the speaker continued mockingly. "You thought that you could reveal the secrets of your power and still claim victory. You were wrong."

The speaker's voice was the same growl as Gaara's, yet it was remarkably calm and rational.

"I heard you during the Finals," it went on. "You spoke of the swirls, the…_issui_. You said they reacted to chakra and that your eyes allowed you to sense and manipulate these 'reactions'. My interest is piqued, for these _issui_ sound much like—oh I'm terribly sorry. You'll have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about if I don't explain first. Let me turn you around so we can converse in a more civilized manner…"

Naruto winced and snapped his eyes shut in pain as the object upon which he was impaled curled inward, thus turning him back towards the owner of said object. When the motion stopped, he opened his eyes again and found himself staring at Gaara. Or rather, it was a version of Gaara that was completely made of sand.

_But he's differe…different_, Naruto thought, forcing his thoughts into coherence amidst the agony.

Indeed, the Gaara standing before him was slightly altered from the Gaara who (Naruto presumed) stood upon a tree branch several dozen feet below him. In addition to his body composition being completely of sand – meaning that no human flesh was visible at all – this Gaara's hair was much longer than that of the other Gaara and both of his eyes were now the same as what Naruto presumed were the Ichibi's eyes. Also, Naruto noticed a set of very deadly-looking claws on each of its hands. Very, very deadly-looking claws.

"That's much better!" Gaara exclaimed with mild cheerfulness as soon as he noticed that Naruto was fully facing him. "Now we can communicate without limit. So, where were we? Ah! I was explaining to you the reason for which I haven't ripped the skin off of your muscles and devoured the marrow within your bones, correct?"

Naruto nodded.

"Excellent," Gaara replied. "Now, you might be wondering why I'm a tad bit more cordial than you're used to. This is because I am not who you are used to; though, I'm sure you know of me quite well. Care to take a guess?"

Within Naruto's beleaguered and battered mind, he could barely grasp the fact that the creature standing before him was not Gaara. Yes, the evidence for such a concept was steep: abrupt change in personality, existence of another Gaara, and alteration in appearance. Yet, how could it possibly be anyone other than Gaara?

"No guesses?" the unknown creature asked with a hint of sadness. "Oh how boring…Ah well, it's not like I don't enjoy introducing myself anyway."

The creature smirked and made an elegant and exaggerated bow.

"My dear and pitiful shinobi," it announced in a loud and ostentatious voice, "I present to you the Master of Wind, the Sorcerer of the Sands, the Tormentor of Men, and the Servant of Sake…the almighty Ichibi, **SHUKAKU!**"

It opened its mouth wider than conceivably possible and let out a roar that froze Naruto's blood in terror.

_I'm dead_, Naruto thought hopelessly.

A bird, whiter than snow, sailed across the currents of the wind. It passed by trees and wildlife with the speed of a hawk, yet it was a mere flicker of light to all that might have laid eyes upon it. Had anything actually been able to see it in its entirety, they might have noticed that it lacked eyes or feathers or any other symptom of life. Instead, soft paper made up its body.

"Ah," Shukaku exclaimed with a satisfied air as the roar echoed throughout the forest, "it feels good to boast. It feels good to say 'I', actually. That's another thing I love. How _I_ delight in the individuality of humans! To be free from the bonds of the conglomerated mind of the Bijuu and to tear off the chains of primal instinct…it's so incredibly, wonderfully orgasmic!"

Shukaku sighed and continued, "I now see things as separate from myself. I am a being in and of myself, rather than a mere piece of a puzzle. All that is not me are objects to be used and manipulated as an extension of my will. How delightful!"

With each of Shukaku's exclamations of joy, the tail lodged within Naruto's chest twitched painfully and with every spasm, he feared he would be torn apart.

"Whatever is the matter?" Shukaku asked with an air of annoyance. "I—oh right! I'd forgotten that I'd run you through like that. There's no need to fret, I assure you. I haven't hit anything vital. Of course, that's not going to matter in a few moments. Oops! I contradicted myself…"

Shukaku winked at him and then slammed Naruto into the rough bark of the branch that served as their ground. Crimson liquid leaked out of his mouth as the tail slowly slid out of his chest, leaving Naruto gasping piteously at Shukaku's clawed feet.

"You seem to want to know how I've won so easily," Shukaku commented a moment later, clearly ignoring the fact that all Naruto desired was for the pain to stop, "so I'll enlighten you. When you told the Hyuuga of your abilities, I knew instantly that you were describing The Language."

Naruto barely comprehended Shukaku's words. The world around him was a dim blur in both sight and sound. He could feel the life fleeing from him.

"The Language," Shukaku went on, "is the method we Bijuu use to communicate to the world. Our communication, however, is not speech. It is our essence expressed through chakra. In other words, chakra is the tongue by which we talk and The Language that we Bijuu use is what you call _issui_."

Had he the strength, Naruto would have gaped at Shukaku. Unfortunately, the blood loss was causing his body to rapidly deteriorate. If he didn't get aid soon, he would die.

"From your performance in the Finals and from what you so helpfully explained to the arena audience afterwards," Shukaku continued, "it was easy for me to determine that you were still unskilled with The Language. You can only hear loud things. What I mean is that you can only sense those who use a large amount of chakra. If someone hides their chakra completely, the _issui _do not move and you are completely unaware of their presence. That is how I caught you from behind. By separating myself and my sweet, sweet Jinchuriki into two different bodies, I was able to trick you into going after the frenzied _issui _of our dear little Gaara. Honestly, you need to learn to keep your mouth _shut_."

Shukaku loudly and mockingly slammed his mouth together.

Naruto forced himself to glance down the dizzying heights of the tree. He found only Gaara wildly swinging his massive claws around the area, roaring insanely as he did so. His humanoid appearance was gone now, replaced instead by the tanuki body he had morphed into earlier.

"Beautiful, is it not?" Shukaku asked pleasantly, apparently referring to Gaara's beastly transformation. "That is all that remains of dear Gaara's psyche: a raging monster hidden beneath the fragile shell that he shows to the world. Such a beast only emerges when Gaara is truly incensed with the desire to kill and it is also the only time that I am able to maintain such complete control over him. I would never have been able to form this clone and inhabit it with my essence if he hadn't been infected with the lust to kill you. Of course, this form I am currently in is only a variation of the transformations Gaara undergoes as he descends into madness and my powers are, as a result, nowhere near what they would be if I were free. Nevertheless, you have brought me one step closer to true liberation. For that, I thank you."

The supple tissue of Gaara's tail gently slid around Naruto's torso, wrapping him tightly in its grasp. He let out a weak moan as he was hoisted into the air, but that was all he could muster. The blood loss had left him too frail to do anything else.

"And now we come to the end of our time together," Shukaku proclaimed with something akin to regret. "It was quite enjoyable to see you wallow in your own shame and blood. It was a most fitting way for me to reenter this world and renew my destruction of your race. This time, however, I'll kill humans because I _want _to, because **I** have the desire to do so. You will be the first. Goodbye Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru. Forever will I wonder how you were able to hear The Language and forever will I delight in the mystery of it all…"

The tail squeezed tighter against Naruto's chest and then lifted him high into the air. With a twitch, Naruto was flung into air directly towards the gaping maws of Gaara.

Great stones and boulders fell to the earth, creating large gashes and craters in the ground wherever they landed. Screams and the roar of destruction dominated the sounds of the landscape as the sun slowly sank into the ground. Night was coming and the beautiful pink hue that the summer sky had assumed was more ill-suited for the ghastly deeds being committed this day than ever before. Or perhaps the vibrant colors were suited perfectly for battle and bloodshed, serving as a majestic contrast to the hate of humanity writhing about below.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of Konohagakure, didn't know and, for the first time in a very long time, he didn't care. The grisliness of the task that still lay before him was too great for him to dwell on the tragedy of war and destruction. Besides, chastising the destructive qualities of humanity was grossly hypocritical of Sarutobi, for he had played one of the biggest roles in orchestrating this battle in the first place.

_A necessary evil for a greater good? _he wondered solemnly as he surveyed the fighting below him with steely eyes. _Ridiculous…_

A _fukkan_* ran by him with frantic speed. She was desperately holding onto a large stack of papers that appeared to contain very important information and her wide eyes indicated the seriousness which she placed upon the task. Her burgundy robes swayed violently as she maneuvered around the myriad number of advisors, commanders, scouts, messengers, and fellow _fukkan_.

Another _fukkan _followed suit with just as much vigor and determination. He was followed by yet another person, this time a dark and brooding general who was clad in the finest crimson shinobi garb. Following was someone else embroiled in the energy of the conflict at hand and so the cycle went on.

_No_, Sarutobi thought in answer to his question, _it is nothing so grand or honorable. It is a power play. Nothing more. I must remember that. I must always remember that. The day that I forget such a thing is the day I am no longer fit to bear the title of Hokage. _

This had been Sarutobi's mantra for six years and it was one he had used throughout his entire life whenever he had been involved in violence. Ever since he had started the war with Kumo and Iwa to expand Konoha's power, he had told himself every day that the death and loss caused by the war were of human origin. Thus, he could not flee into the realms of heroic fantasy whenever he was faced with hardship. It had kept him focused and realistic in the direst of situations and it served such a purpose now as well.

"Order Squad 49 to initiate attack on the far east side of the battle line," he ordered suddenly in his gruff voice. "Once they have stretched the flank of the missing-nin front lines to its breaking point, have Akimichi Squads 4 and 7 attack Forest Sector G."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" the general standing to the right of Sarutobi's makeshift throne barked out obediently.

Sarutobi watched him walk away for only a moment and then returned to eyeing the battlefield. He remained like this for an indeterminate amount of time, every now and then calling out orders to adjust the scene before him that he and his advisors had devised so carefully. Literally, all was going according to Konoha's plan…and it bothered him horribly.

A large chakra signature drew his attention away from the battle and onto an individual garbed in a majestic white and green robe. It was the Kazekage and he was surrounded by four large Suna guards.

"Greetings, Hokage-dono," the Kazekage called out cheerfully as he strolled through the crowd of people towards Sarutobi. "How goes your front? My side has successfully repelled the first few waves of invaders and the enemy seems to be wearing rather thin."

"All has gone well thus far, Kazekage-dono," Sarutobi replied. "What brings you to the Northern Wall?"

"I'm merely curious how the battle is faring here," the Kazekage replied amicably.

"As you can see," Sarutobi responded with equal friendliness, "it is doing quite well."

Sarutobi watched out of the corner of his eye the Kazekage glance down at the battlefield, and then nod in concurrence. To the untrained observer, the grounds outside Konoha's walls were a barren wasteland, dotted only with craters and bordered by the burning trees of Konoha's Great Forest. To a shinobi, however, battles were raging everywhere along the vast length of the wall. The blurs of Konoha squads could be seen speeding between the command post atop the walls and the battlefield below. Chakra and jutsu whirled about with the ferocity of tornadoes within and without the forest, leaving nothing to the imagination of those who could sense the power of the invisible battle that lay beneath Konoha's mighty walls. One thing was clear, however: Konoha was quickly gaining the upper hand.

"I do see," the Kazekage remarked impassively as he turned back towards Sarutobi. "A most wonderful outcome, my friend. These missing nin, though ferocious, are just as I thought them upon the beginning of the engagement: undisciplined and weak-minded."

Sarutobi frowned and replied, "I disagree, Kazekage-dono. They are indeed brutish fighters, but they are also significantly outnumbered and outclassed. If they were as you've described, this fight would have ended long ago. Instead, they've adjusted to our preparedness with remarkable quickness and avoided engaging us directly by luring our forces into a forest that, while once familiar to us, is now a death trap of burning trees and acrid smoke. I might even dare to say that they're comparable to the trained shinobi of the Great Nations. Quite talented for missing nin, wouldn't you agree?"

The Kazekage's confident stare wavered momentarily, but before either leader could continue, a serious voice shouted, "Scout for Squad 27 is down!"

"Send out one of the reserve Squads from the nearest defensive garrison to Squad 27's position," a nearby commander ordered immediately.

Sarutobi turned back to the Kazekage to renew their conversation. What had just transpired was an unimportant part of Konoha's military strategy, yet at the same time, it was considered one of the greatest innovations in shinobi warfare. During the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Sarutobi and his military advisors had come across a problem as the territory under their control had expanded. Messengers simply couldn't cover the ground between bases quickly enough to inform commanders of events that had likely happened days ago.

Fortunately, Nara Shikaku had come up with a tactic that allowed for instant communication between Squads and their command stations. One scout would be placed in every Squad. At predetermined time intervals, the scouts would send out bursts of chakra in a coded pattern. High-level chakra sensors stationed at tall positions near the command posts would feel these bursts and report the code directly to the commanding officer at hand. When a scout ceased sending chakra signals, it alerted the Sensors that harm had come to the Squad.

The effect of this simple technique had a major impact on the outcomes of battles during the war. Military garrisons miles away from a battle knew when and where to station troops in order to counter enemy positions spotted by scouts _at _the battle scene. Commanders could determine enemy troop numbers at an opposing base by calculating the number of enemy troops currently fighting, a fact which was determined by scouts on hand during a fight.

The long-term impact was also large. The other Nations had soon learned of Konoha's "instant messaging" and had begun developing their own versions of it as quickly as they could. Now, it was a staple of shinobi warfare and one that Sarutobi was currently employing to monitor the progress of Konoha forces as they fought in and around dense and burning forests that were impossible to see through.

"Well, I can see that I am not needed here," the Kazekage remarked with a sigh. "As usual, you have everything under control, Hokage-dono. I will return to my post and ensure that your city is intact for the celebration of your victory. I look forward to seeing you then."

The Kazekage bowed his slightly – an act which Sarutobi returned - turned around, and then set off back the way he came.

Sarutobi watched after him a moment and then returned to the battle at hand.

Several things happened at once for Naruto. A large black knife sliced across Gaara's throat, followed by a fist slamming into the Suna Jinchuriki's gut. Gaara screamed and knocked the owner of the fist and knife away with a massive swipe of his tail. As this was occurring, two dark blurs came into view, one slightly ahead of the other. The slower of the two landed on a nearby limb and then emitted a bullet of fire that collided with Gaara's left leg explosively. The other member of the pair landed on Gaara's head as the Jinchuriki was falling back from the attack and then used it to propel itself into the air towards Naruto, pulling him into its grasp as soon as it reached his position.

At this point, all that Naruto could sense was air rushing around him and his mysterious savior. Colors and movement were mottled together in a strange tapestry of the senses, leaving Naruto clueless as to what was actually happening.

This came to an end with a single sound: the soft _thunk _of feet landing on wood. Motion stopped instantly and the colors abruptly became defined and organized. It made Naruto feel like he was going to puke.

The arms carrying him unceremoniously fell out from under him, causing him to collapse onto the bark miserably.

"Tell me everything you can about Gaara," a young and adrenaline-pumped voice demanded.

He whimpered and let his head fall limply onto the wood. Naruto had lost too much blood. Vague memories and images—no, they weren't images, for he was too tired and weak to form such complex concepts. They were the simplest of feelings: love, pleasure, and contentment. There were sensations as well. The wonderful feeling his got from snuggling into Anko's sheets at night, the flush of pride after successfully completing a training exercise, and the sight of a small paper bird alighting upon his shoulder as he sped off to complete a mission…

"Answer me Jinkoumaru!" the voice, now with an inflection of frantic desperation, shouted at him. "Tell me his weaknesses so we can beat him! Tell me so…so we can avenge you!"

A flicker of rational thought burst into life within his dying mind.

_The voice needs me_, he realized. _It can save me._

With heroic effort, Naruto lifted his head up and turned around to face his rescuer. Everything was blurry and indistinct, but that didn't stop him from making out the bright pink hair adorning his savior's head.

"S-Sakura?" he mumbled out, astonished that she of all people would be here.

"Yes Jinkoumaru," she replied with newfound excitement, "it's me. You fought Gaara. Tell me how to beat him. Please Jinkoumaru! We need you."

A tear rolled down his left cheek. Sakura had come back for him. She had fought off the Kumo nin and was here to take him back to Ojisan so that he could be heal—

_Stop!_ he ordered himself. _Just s-stop…_

"I-I w-w-will," he replied in a raspy and nearly inaudible voice that contained a miraculous hint of logic, "but f-first he…heal—"

"Heal you?" Sakura asked incredulously. "I can't possibly—"

Fear struck Naruto like a gong. The reality of death descended upon him and he instantly remembered the sparkling liquid Sakura had poured over Sasuke's leg to heal it. She'd passed out from the effort, but his quick mind instantly came up with a solution. He could ease the flow of chakra from her to the wound using the _issui_.

"W-water," he interjected quickly.

He watched her eyes narrow in confusion and then subsequently widen in realization, as if gasping.

"But I-I could die from chakra exhaustion," she stuttered out.

The desperation within Naruto was terrifying. He couldn't die here. He didn't want to die here or anywhere! He wanted to live…he need to live!

Using this fear as energy, he grabbed the front of Sakura's shirt and pulled her close to his face.

"Without me, _everyone _dies!" he shouted furiously.

The pain from his wound suddenly became like fire and blood gurgled down his chin from within his mouth. Spasms brought on by the pain forced him to release his hold of Sakura's shirt, causing him to collapse back onto the branch with a dull _smack_.

Lights sparked across Naruto's eyes upon impact and all around him was a blob of swirling colors. This dizzying display only exacerbated his fear for his life. With blood pouring from his chest and the world reeling before him, Naruto started panicking. His heartbeat increased exponentially, until it was if it was pounding next to his own ears. Spasms of pain accompanied this, for more blood flowed out of his wound as his heart sped up. Soon, however, it would stop from lack of blood…and he would die.

_Keep calm._

Naruto felt the frantic chain of his thoughts halt.

_Panic is your enemy. Fear is your ally so long as it is coupled with logic. Identify the source of your fear and then use your mind to eliminate it._

"Pain," Naruto whispered reverently.

"I know you're in pain," Sakura shouted, "but I can't heal you without killing myself! I'm…I'm sorry."

He glanced at the blob of pink and white that he assumed was Sakura. Her head appeared to be bowed, emanating guilt and sorrow. Her _issui _were a beautiful sight to behold.

Salvation suddenly swelled within his battered heart. His mind, quick and brilliant, could see the solution as if it were a gem at the bottom of a clear pool of water.

_That's it_, he thought gloriously, _I can use the _issui _too…_

Wasting no time, Naruto grabbed one of Sakura's uncertain hands and made to place it over his wound. He felt her start at his touch, her muscles tensing instantly within his grasp.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

He quickly shook his head and pointed at the grey flask upon her belt that held the liquid.

"I told you," she protested angrily, "I can't heal something that serious! It'll kill m—"

"I-I'll help," he interrupted.

His words were jumbled and slurred, but their meaning had to be unmistakable.

"How?" she asked disbelievingly, staring down at him with her green eyes.

Naruto could taste the panic on his tongue. He didn't have much longer. He hadn't had much longer for an eternity now.

He opened his mouth to give his dearest Sakura a very fast and angry response, but was stopped by the faintest of sounds: his heartbeat dying down to a mere patter. And then…

Naruto suddenly clutched his chest frantically, clawing at his flesh with the desperation of a mad man. The blood in his veins was stilling to a mere murmur, leaving him to frantically try to gulp down as much air as possible within the few seconds left to him.

_Am I going to die?_

Such a simple question. One that Naruto had seen countless times in the novels Pain and Konan had provided him. He had always thought it was used by authors far too frequently. Who cares if the main character was about to die, Naruto had demanded. Everyone knew that he (or in rare cases 'she') would find some miraculous way to recover, defeat the threat to the land, and thus reenter the world as a renowned and famous hero.

_B-but I'm not a hero_, Naruto thought in a whisper as the light in his eyes dimmed and the world blackened. _I'm going to die and no one will know. No one will care. And what if I go to hell? What if…what if there is no hell? What if there is _nothing_? Will I be a mere hunk of flesh and meat to feed the worms in the ground? NO! DON'T LET ME DIE!_

Brilliant light suddenly poured down upon him, freeing him from the crimson taint of his pain. For Naruto, all was now wonderfully, peacefully still.

_ Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!_

A great ball of fire roared into life around Sasuke's mouth. It burst forth towards Gaara immediately after its conception, igniting everything into hellish flame as it soared through the air. Gaara roared and swiped at it with one of his claws. The result was an explosion that knocked Sasuke off his feet.

He landed on his rump just as the aftereffects of the blast began. His dark hair billowed wildly around him as he used his Sharingan to search for Gaara amidst the blast. Seeing nothing, Sasuke leapt into a thick covering of foliage and took a moment to breathe. There were heavy breaths, for his chakra was fading and with its depletion came myriad aches and pains that worsened with every jutsu he cast.

_I can barely move_, Sasuke admitted to himself finally. _If Gaara attacks, I may not be able to—_

"Saaaaasuke," a chillingly cheerful and demonic voice called out. "Saaaasuke…"

Sasuke became as still as the tree he stood upon. His pupils were twin dots that darted across the white landscape of his sclera fearfully. All of Sasuke's thoughts were now bent on one thing: finding Gaara within the darkness that surrounded him. His fear was made all the more horrible by how silent the forest had become. Was it afraid of Gaara as well?

"SASUKE!"

Gaara's deformed face burst out of the leaves. His eyes were white and blank. Strips of flesh flapped over his shifting face. Worst of all, however, was the smile. Fangs as pale as the moon shined brightly in the darkness within that mouth and they all reflected Sasuke's terrified face beautifully.

Sasuke opened his mouth in a silent scream and wildly leapt away from the monster. He fell down the tree through the air, endlessly sailing through dark and whispering things that only furthered the fear that was now beating his heart against his chest. He didn't know when he would finally hit a wayward branch, yet the fearful anticipation of colliding with something or of Gaara reaching down and wrapping his claws around him and _smiling _at him as he died…

Finally, he collapsed against something hard and gnarled. The impact threw him up into the air briefly before he fell back against the hard something once more. A trickle of blood slid out of his mouth and down his chin as he lay there. He knew it was blood for it tasted coppery and stuck against his skin as it ambled downwards. Leaves rustled in the dark, terrifying him a thousand times every moment. Would another grinning face burst out of the unknown to rip him apart?

Somewhere within his terror, a kernel of logic burrowed to the forefront of his mind. The logic shone dimly through the fog of his fear. It spoke to him softly of a solution, of a way to win the battle and save Sakura.

"Sharingan," Sasuke whispered, his tone worshipful and awed.

Chakra instantly flooded into his eyes and the darkness that had shrouded the forest in fear gave way to glorious illumination. Root, bark, and leaf appeared above and around Sasuke, revealing the sources behind the sounds that had frightened him so. And crouching mere feet above him, eyes rolling and wild, was Gaara. The demon-child sniffed and gnawed at the air hungrily, clearly in search of its prey.

Sasuke tensed at the sight of his hunter, but remained completely still otherwise. He knew that Gaara would pounce upon him instantly if he made any sound and that would mean death in every conceivable way.

_He's already so close_, Sasuke thought. _Just one false movement and he'll be on top of me…_

Three years of war had given Sasuke the ability to think past the immediate threat and start planning for the conclusion of a battle. Now was a time where that skill was invaluable.

_My plans have all centered on Gaara's actions_, Sasuke reasoned carefully. _I've been throwing jutsu at him to try and gauge his abilities, but all that's done is get me here. If I'm going to win – if I'm going to survive – I need to know what he's going to do before even he does. _

Crimson eyes gleaming in the darkness, Sasuke slowly wrapped his fingers around a small, thin offshoot of the branch he was laying on. Clenching his jaw anxiously, Sasuke snapped the twig in two with a loud _crack_.

"FOUND YOU!"

Gaara roared and catapulted himself straight towards Sasuke, snapping branch and twig alike as he sailed through the air. Sasuke watched him descend with wide eyes, yet he did not move. Wind and leaves fell onto him, yet he did not waver from his plan…for all was going exactly according to plan.

The tip of Gaara's claw was a terrifyingly low number of inches away from his face when Sasuke's hands snapped into a Tiger seal and he cried out, "_Taiyo Furea no Jutsu!_"

Bright orange light exploded into existence, engulfing everything that the Sharingan had allowed Sasuke to see. He heard a scream over the roar of the light and took it as a sign that Gaara had been blinded. Without another thought, Sasuke planted his hands palms down on the branch, kicked his legs up, and then pushed himself high into the air with a chakra-enhanced shove.

The sensations of flipping backwards while traveling through the air was one that Sasuke had always found fascinating. Or perhaps "fascinating" was too strong a word. "Interesting" certainly covered it. Yes, Sasuke thought the idea of hurling himself backwards into open air (where one would inevitably be left completely and helplessly upside down before tucking) "interesting". Indeed, he couldn't even begin to conquer the tinge fear in the back of his mind that sprouted into existence whenever he was reaching the first half of a flip. After this was an even more incomprehensible series of moments during which the world and all within it blurred together in a spinning mass of color and shapes.

The flip that Sasuke was engaging in now, however, was slightly different than any that he had performed before. This meant little to one such as him, of course, for his training as a shinobi had given him the dexterity and nimbleness to execute any number of acrobatic feats. Coupled with chakra, the training enabled him to easily perform this particular trick.

That aside, the position from Sasuke was flipping made engaging in said activity…difficult. He essentially had to prop himself up into a handstand, push himself into the air with only the muscles of his arms, and then begin flipping towards what he hoped was another branch. All of this while Gaara screamed and Sasuke's own jutsu exploded into existence.

A soft _thunk _and a slight jarring sensation alerted Sasuke that he had landed. Sharingan blazing, he formed a Tiger seal and gathered chakra into his mouth.

Staring directly at the orange ball that he had created, Sasuke took a massive breath of air and mentally shouted, _Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!_

Sasuke opened his mouth above the index finger of his seal and blew out numerous balls of fire across a wide swath of trees. The fiery orbs collided with devastating force against the wood, igniting them into great pillars of flame and heat. The forest itself seemed to radiate this orange light, furiously burning and gnawing at the trees which had stood for generations.

Breathing heavily, Sasuke fell to his knees and formed more hand signs.

When he'd finished, he began to call out hurriedly, "_Hi Kans_—"

A brown blur shot out of the forest fire and collided into Sasuke's tree. Sasuke grimaced and leapt into the air towards another post from which to prepare his attack. It was fortunate that he'd done so, for Gaara's massive claw burst out of the three and crushed the branch which Sasuke had been kneeling upon moments later.

_He traveled up through the tree? _Sasuke wondered numbly as he landed gently onto another branch.

Sasuke's base of operations was situated at a point southwest to Gaara. The Suna Jinchuriki was still ripping his way out of the tree, ensuring that he hadn't seen Sasuke escape, yet the situation was no better than it had ever been.

_I'm still hiding_, Sasuke realized furiously, _and Gaara's still in control! I can't keep running. I have to put him on the defens—but he's too powerful! I…I need power. I _need_ it._

The almost lustful quality of this last thought stunned Sasuke momentarily.

"Have you found him yet, dear Gaara?"

An icy chill wrapped around Sasuke's heart with vice-like strength. That voice, so lyrical and cheerful, held nothing but malice within its words. Ever so slowly, Sasuke gazed in the direction from which the voice had come. Another Gaara stared back with eyes as golden as the sun.

Sasuke grimaced in dismay and prepared to leap back to a safer position. A clone would only further his misery. He was going to have to find hel—

Sasuke stopped so abruptly and completely that he himself had no idea what he was doing. His Sharingan wavered and then collapsed into nonexistence, leaving his eyes dark and fearful. His body crouched unmoving upon the bark, resistant to all of the might of his will.

_What the hell is this? _Sasuke demanded fearfully.

"_Āsmḩwā al-Mkhāwf Fy ʼḨlk al-Khāş Lk…Āsmḩwā Rwḩk Tdhwy Fy Ghyāhb an-Nsyān_," the other Gaara uttered softly, all the while smiling a beautiful and terrible smile. "_an-Nwm al-ʼĀn Wnnsá Kl Mā Tbdhlwnh Mn Mtāʻb ad-Dnyā_."

A heavy weight fell upon Sasuke's eyelids, but not before gnawing fear wormed its way through his stomach and into his mind. Moaning piteously, Sasuke fell to his knees.

"He lays in that direction, my child," the other Gaara said merrily, pointing a clawed finger directly at Sasuke. "Go, bring me that boy's heart and you shall earn my love."

Gaara, now freed from the confines of the tree, roared happily and bounded through the air towards Sasuke. The speed and ferocity with which the demon-child moved was too great for Sasuke to counter. He would die, doubtlessly. The words of the malicious creature commanding Gaara, mysterious and incomprehensible as they were, kept him on his knees. Helpless was Sasuke and helpless would he forever be.

_N-no_, Sasuke thought suddenly. Fearful were his thoughts, but a new emotion was beginning to consume them: wrath. _It's not fair! Why must I always be the weak one? Itachi, Gaara…I deserve to have their power. It should be mine. It should always have been mine!_

A sharp pain erupted on the left side of his neck, causing him to unconsciously grasp it with his right hand.

"W-what is this?" he demanded in a faint and high-pitched voice.

The only answer that came was the sound of Gaara landing menacingly on Sasuke.

Gaara grinned and violently grabbed the back of his prey's head in his hand. He then pressed Sasuke's face into the bark, forcing him to inhale the very essence of humiliation.

"Such a small creature," he growled. "Why would Mother care for something as pathetic as this?"

Gaara pressed the worm's face further into the bark, causing it to squeal in agony.

"No matter no matter no matter," Gaara repeated in a small breath. "Mother wants blood, Gaara gives blood. Simple and…_loving_."

Sliding his hand down to his prey's neck, Gaara flipped him onto his back and then held him up the air by his throat. Sasuke, bloody and pale, stared weakly back into Gaara's wild eyes.

The pain in Sasuke's neck was excruciating, yet it was nothing compared to the fury burning within him now.

_Weak! _he roared inside his mind. _I am weak and there's nothing, _nothing _I can do about it! Why must this be? Why cannot I be strong? Why can I never save my friends, my loved ones? Where is the justice in that? TELL ME!_

_ There is no justice_, a small voice replied. _I am right. I should be the one to have the power, not this wretched creature in front of me. I should have had the power to save Naruto and kill the Kumo nin, not the other way around. I deserve power, I need power, and justice will not bring me that. Vengeance, however, and the power that comes with it, can._

_ Yes, yes! _Sasuke continued. _My rage is righteous and pure. It will give me the power I seek where others would not! If the world will deny me what is rightfully mine, then I will take it by force…so that Sakura and Konoha can be saved… _

With these last fleeting thoughts, the pain in Sasuke's neck vanished and glorious power surged through his veins.

"Your blood will feed Mother," Gaara uttered happily, "and she will love me forever! Now di—"

A dark chuckle escaped Sasuke's lips, abruptly bringing to Gaara's attention the dark lines zooming across his prey's skin.

"Oh my dear Gaara," Sasuke remarked with delicious malevolence, "we'll be having none of that_…_"

Great purple flames exploded into existence, engulfing and destroying everything in their path.

_Thirty Minutes Earlier_

"Commander Keiken has reported in, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi glanced at the _fukkan _kneeling before him.

"And?" he asked impassively.

"The main force of missing nin has been routed, Hokage-sama," she replied with the smallest hint of happiness in her voice. "Only a few pockets of enemies remain and our scouts have reported that many of them are attempting to flee."

"Commander Reikoku, send out ANBU to capture and interrogate all remaining enemy commanders," Sarutobi ordered coldly. "Execute everyone else."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the dark-haired general replied swiftly, hurrying off to see to his master's orders immediately afterwards.

"Sainō," the wizened Hokage continued, addressing the young _fukkan_, "tell the other commanders that the battle is over and order any available Genin squads to aid in returning the citizens from the caverns."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the girl replied instantly. "Would you like me to inform Kazekage-sama as well?"

"No," he responded, "I will take care of it. Speaking of which, I will require three—no, four Takai Jounin to accompany me."

Four figures immediately stepped behind the Hokage, their presence causing the very air to vibrate with power…or so the onlookers saw it. Sainō too stared awestruck at the group as they began making their way across the platform atop Konoha's Great Wall. The shinobi currently following the Hokage were some of the most powerful in the village, great commanders and warriors who had been given absolute authority over all of the armies of Konoha…save for when the Hokage himself was present, of course. To have them marching behind the old leader like common bodyguards as he walked to the other side of the village to greet his ally was bewildering to say the least.

_What the hell is going on? _Sainō thought fearfully.

"Ah, I almost forgot," Sarutobi remarked absentmindedly. "Sainō, send word to Commander Keiken that I will require the presence of himself and four battalions of his men at the Kazekage's quarters within thirty minutes."

Sainō gaped slack jawed at the Hokage; but, upon realizing that she was staring at her leader in such a disrespectful manner, quickly bowed and replied, "Hai, Hokage-sama!"

"Thank you very much," the Hokage said graciously.

Soft footsteps tapping lightly against stone told her that the Hokage had resumed his march. As she hurriedly stood up to carry out her orders, Sainō could not help but wonder at the oddness of the situation.

_Taking some of the most powerful shinobi in the village to inform the Kazekage that we've won? _she asked herself skeptically. _That didn't look like allies getting together to celebrate their victory. It looked like…_

"Preparation for battle," she finished out loud.

"What was that _fukkan_?" a regal-looking general barked out suddenly.

"Nothing, my lord," she answered quietly.

Forcefully putting her thoughts to rest, Sainō began the process of relaying the Hokage's message to Commander Keiken. Her thoughts never ceased, however, and she would be plagued with insatiable curiosity for the rest of the day.

_Present Time_

Shukaku winced and shielded his eyes against the tempest that slammed into him. Grains of sand blew off of him, following the wind into the reaches of the sky. In a tree next to his own, he spotted Gaara impaled upon a torn tree branch. The boy was alive and healing, but he would be out of the battle for some time. Shukaku started at this and realized that all of the trees save his own had been torn down by the Uchiha's power.

He glanced back at Sasuke, but was instead met by a swirling and spherical mass of purple chakra.

_There is much hatred there_, he thought warily. _What wickedness possesses this boy?_

The sphere of purple finally began to fade, swirling into a fainter and fainter circles until all that remained were ripples. At the center of where the circle had been stood Sasuke, though Shukaku could sense that he had been changed. Dark symbols covered the boy's body ominously. They moved around across his skin like inky snakes, swirling and spinning their lies into the poor lad's demented mind.

"_Makyo no Ran!_"

Three wriggling things suddenly collided into Shukaku's back, burying deep into his back and gnawing at him with unseen teeth. His chakra reacted violently.

"How dare you attack me! I'll ki—"

"_Sen'ejiashu Daibakuha!_"

The purple-haired girl he'd fought earlier appeared below him and launched three snakes into his gut. They collided with a unified hiss and knocked him backwards. As he crashed into a tree, Shukaku cocked a nonexistent eyebrow when he noticed the snakes clamp onto his flesh with their fangs and then begin swelling up with energy.

_Wait_, he wondered casually as he sailed through the air, _didn't she say "_Daibakuha_"? Now I could be wrong here, but I think that means "Great Explo—"_

With divine timing, the snakes burst into flames and exploded with a force like none that had ever been seen. Flames raced and ripped through the air in massive pillars of heat, incinerating anything in their path. The air rippled like water and smoke choked the air. Remnants of plants and trees that once brimmed with life littered the forest floor with their ashy remains. And at the center of it all was Shukaku helplessly flying through the air, his sandy shell fractured and torn to pieces. He slammed into the ground like a meteor, spewing small fragments of his body all across the area.

Moaning piteously, Shukaku opened his eyes and gazed down at his body. His "flesh" oozed off of him in great black chunks, dribbling down onto the forest floor in a very porridge-like manner. Any distinguishable features that had signified him as humanoid were gone now, marred and ruined by the power of the explosion. He tried to cough, but realized that he could not. Slowly and haltingly bringing a charred hand up to his face, he abruptly grasped the fact that his entire lower jaw was gone, presumably burned into nonexistence by the explosion.

_How unfortunate_, Shukaku thought dryly. _How will I ever be able to degrade my enemies if I have no mouth? Takes all the fun out of killing…_

Shukaku reached out with his senses and found the _issui _of Gaara only a few feet away. The boy was barely conscious, but conscious nonetheless.

_Good_, he thought with relief as a new jaw began to ooze out of his face. _If he'd died…It's meaningless to think about. I can still carry out my plan, though it'll have to be done rather quickly. I was going to gradually draw the rest of my power – and thus my essence – out of Gaara, but these imbeciles are forcing me to take desperate measures. I'll have to knock out the sweet child and devour the remainder of his psyche, releasing the rest of me in the process. But all of that energy at once could drive me even more insane. That doesn't matter, I suppose. So long as Gaara's alive, I will retain my individuality and my happiness. That is all I need. _

Bones and muscle, all made out of sand, wrapped around each other with serpentine quickness. They popped together, wriggling and twisting in a demented and unholy dance. When all of it finally snapped together and his flesh began sliding down his face to cover it, Shukaku was feeling much more…whole.

Clicking his now full set of teeth together, Shukaku slowly heaved himself up off of the ground. He was grateful that he'd made Gaara place so much chakra in this clone body. Otherwise, it might have dispelled and he would have been forced back into his beloved host. As it was, the body's flesh was already sewing itself back together and healing those parts that had been scorched by the flames. Gaara's chakra truly was potent…all thanks to a certain Bijuu, of course.

_Speaking of my dear little "son"_, he thought wryly as he began trudging over towards Gaara, _how is it that he is even unconscious? It is true that I took his sand defense with me when I left his body, but he was still covered with a coating of my flesh. And how did I get hurt? The sand should have protected me._

Shukaku stopped at the foot of the boy's crimson hair and knelt down until he was but a breath away from the boy's pale and tormented face. The demonic flesh that had covered the boy was gone now, leaving only bruised, fragile, and ragged skin. Passing a claw across Gaara's cheek, Shukaku thought upon the cause of his host's injuries.

_Could it have been that dark energy? _he wondered, thinking back to the explosion of _issui _around Sasuke. _It never touched me, but it did engulf Gaara. That might have been enough to nullify our sand._

With a thought, Shukaku commanded the sand to come to him. Instantly, a tornado of it erupted around him, swirling with voracious speed to defend its master.

_Whatever happened_, Shukaku realized with a relieved sigh, _it was only temporary._

"M-mother," Gaara mewled suddenly.

"Shhh," Shukaku whispered comfortingly and immediately, "everything will be fine. Mother's here to save you, to make the pain go away."

Gaara started to murmur something, but he was stopped by Shukaku's finger on his mouth.

"Everything will be fine," Shukaku repeated with an almost indistinctly greater amount of force.

Gaara's face softened instantly and his dark eyelids began to close over his eyes.

"Good," Shukaku muttered gently. "Rest now, let darkness envelop you and cradle you to its bosom. Sleep—"

Gaara started and knocked Shukaku's hand away.

"No Mother!" he shrieked fearfully. "I can't sleep Mother! It will come, it will come and gnaw at my flesh and my bones and my face and…please Mother, PLEASE!"

"Do not be afraid, child," Shukaku persisted, forcing himself to ignore his host's insolence. "It will not hurt you. I will be there to guide you and help you rest—"

"It will find me, Mother! It always does! Please…save me…"

Shukaku gazed into Gaara's desperate and terrified eyes, smiled, and then tenderly placed his hand onto the boy's haggard face.

"Don't worry my son," he began cheerfully, "it will all be over soon. _Ānā Āwşykm ʻLá an-Nwm ʼLá al-ʼBd, Ḩtá ʼTmkn Mn Tnāwl aţ-Ţʻām Rwḩk_—"

"_Chidori!"_

Blue light tinged with black shattered Shukaku's vision and enveloped him in its glow. His sand shot up from the ground to deflect whatever the source of the light was; but from the drain on his chakra, Shukaku could tell that his defenses were wavering.

"What is this?" he shouted furiously, turning towards his assailant.

Greeting him was Sasuke Uchiha, Sharingan spinning madly within eyes lined by fiery black lines. In his hand was a ball of electricity, the source of the light. It glowed magnificently against the dimming strength of his sand, causing Shukaku's spirit to waver.

"Stop!" the mighty Bijuu commanded. "_Qef fwrā!_"

"Shut your tongue monster!" Sasuke screamed over the roar of the jutsu. "You hold no power over me any longer! Now…now you'll die for trying to kill an Uchiha!"

Shukaku watched, horrified, as the ball grew even bigger and abruptly destroyed all of his sand.

"NO!" he shouted, his voice the essence of desperation. "I will not return to that prison to wait for the brat to die!"

Shukaku thrust his hand forward and caught the electricity ball with his palm. Painful vibrations instantly racked his arm, but that meant nothing to one such as him. He was Shukaku, the Ninth Bijuu, Keeper of the Juubi's _Dm_, Terror of the Desert, Master of Wind—

"_Torimono._"

Invisible wires snapped around Shukaku's hand, freezing it and his chakra in place. The demon could only watch in horror as the glowing blue ball of energy in Sasuke's hands passed through his arm and into his heart, leaving only pain and ash in his wake.

Shukaku would have screamed, but his bonds – the golden _issui_ that had guided him through eternity – prevented him from doing so. He could only twitch as Sasuke coldly removed his hand from the newly formed hole in his chest and backed away, leaving Shukaku splayed pitifully across the ground.

His vision began to blur rapidly as his body started to disintegrate into sand. Mentally he screamed and raged against the barriers steadily encasing him and returning him to the hell that was Gaara's mind; yet he could do nothing as a hazy figure, with hair as brilliant as the sun and eyes as clear as the sea, stood over him and placed its hand over his face.

Shukaku's clone body vanished completely in that instant, as did his dream of finally being free from his prison, free from the darkness of Gaara's mind, and free from the enslavement of uniform thinking. But it was now a dream and nothing more, for the love that Gaara had felt for his Mother was now shattered irrevocably and never again would he trust the words of the voice in his head. Now, Shukaku could only wait until the boy died and even then he would have only a brief moment of freedom before being imprisoned within another unfortunate child. The worst part of it, however, was that the individuality Shukaku had lusted after was now leaving him utterly. The "I's" and "me's" were gradually disappearing from his mind, making him a mere extension of the Juubi once again. For the briefest of moments, he was infuriated by this. But it quickly passed and "Shukaku" faded into oblivion, leaving only the Ichibi in his place.

Naruto breathed heavily, but stood nonetheless. His coat was dirty and marked with faded blood stains, while his hakama had several tears around the knee area. His eyes, now their normal cerulean hue, faded in and out of coherence. Below him were the sandy remains of Shukaku's fake body, small and grainy pebbles that scattered to the breeze of the forest as easily as dandelion seeds. Also lying at his feet was a very conscious and tormented Gaara. The red-haired boy shook visibly on the ground and his teal eyes rolled within their sockets wildly. It was clear that he had been traumatized by his "Mother's" betrayal. This was all infuriatingly blurry to him, however, and he mentally cursed his body for its frailty.

The glint of a kunai suddenly caught Naruto's attention. Glancing at its source, Naruto was horrified to find Sasuke preparing to plunge a blade into Gaara's chest.

"Stop!" he cried out, lunging desperately at Sasuke as he did so.

This cry drew Sasuke's attention onto him and for a brief, yet internally eternal moment, their eyes locked. Naruto knocked the blade away, buy a fit of coughs suddenly seized hold of Naruto's chest and he fell onto Gaara's slight chest hacking up saliva and blood.

He felt Gaara staring at him and slowly turned towards the Jinchuriki in response. Unknown emotions swirled within those teal eyes, causing them to glimmer in the sparse sunlight of the forest.

"Move!" someone screamed.

Two strong arms suddenly wrapped around him and Naruto found himself being held against a rough, yet strangely comforting material. The coughs eventually stopped and he fell against the material drained of energy and thought.

"Are you all right?" he heard Anko asked in a worried whisper. "Where does it hurt? You!" she yelled abruptly, "Get over here and heal him!"

"I-I don't have any chakra left," Sakura's sad voice answered.

Naruto buried his face into Anko's coat and sighed contentedly. Everything would be fine, he told himself drowsily. The pain growing in his stomach would go away soon and Anko would take him back to Ame.

"Heal him," a solemn voice commanded.

"What?" Sakura demanded incredulously. "He's with them Sasuke! They're obviously not with us, so why shou—"

"So you don't have enough chakra, huh?" a voice even gruffer than Anko's called out.

Naruto sneaked a glance up from his warm spot on Anko's coat. To his frustration, the world was even blurrier than before. Despite this, he was still able to recognize Tayuya's mane of orange hair standing above him.

_Tayuya_, he thought sleepily. _So loud…_

"If you can yell like a sneaking bitch," Tayuya continued mercilessly, "then you can heal him!"

"Maybe I can heal him," Sakura admitted, "or at least enough that he'll make it back to Konoha to get proper treatment. But why should I waste the last of my chakra on someone who might try to kill me?"

_Fair point_, Naruto thought with a small smirk.

Before either Tayuya or Anko could rebuke Sakura's claim, however, Sasuke stated sullenly, "He won't attack us, Sakura."

Naruto cracked his eyes open and peered up at Sasuke. The black markings he'd noticed on his body were gradually receding into a point on his left shoulder. His skin seemed to gray as the markings passed over them, as if they were sucking away his very life. Despite this, he stood upright with eyes as dark and fierce as ever. Though part of Naruto – deep and distant within his wearied body – wondered what the markings were, the rest of him was simply glad Sasuke was trying to convince Sakura to heal him.

"What are you saying Sasuke?" she demanded angrily. "He's been nothing but vicious towards everyone around him since the Finals and he could have killed Neji! What makes you think he won't do the same to us—"

"But he didn't kill the Hyuuga," Anko interjected fiercely. "He let him go!"

"This is pointless!" Sasuke shouted, silencing the debate instantly. He suddenly clenched up, as if about to vomit. Naruto noticed the markings stop and pulsate briefly, before resuming their journey into Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke shook his head, exhaled deeply, and then continued, "I don't want to spare him because I trust him or anything. It's because…just look at his eyes, all right? They're like—they're like Naruto's."

Said eyes snapped open as wide as they were able to.

_What did he just say? _Naruto wondered with sudden clarity.

"What did you just say?" Sakura asked.

"Look at them Sakura!" Sasuke yelled impatiently. "They're bluer than the sky, just like Naruto's! I've never seen eyes come even close to that color. What are the odds of someone possessing the same eye and hair color as Naruto _and _belonging to the country that just so happens to border the spot where Naruto was—"

"Killed?" Sakura finished sadly. "Naruto died, Sasuke. We saw it with our own eyes."

_Yes_, Naruto thought in relief, _that's right. Naruto is dead. Forget about it and move on._

"Are you both finished?" Tayuya asked, indifferent to the emotional weight of Sasuke and Sakura's conversation. "This kid obviously isn't the friend you're lookin' for. If you both saw him die, then it would be kinda impossible for blondie here to be him, y'know? So if someonecan start healing him now, that would be just—"

"No we didn't," Sasuke interrupted with a touch of venom in his voice despite his exhaustion. "We never saw Naruto actually die. All we saw were his clones explode, everyone around him get caught in the flames, and then him reach…out for us. After that, we ran and _left him_ to die! Don't you see? He could have been rescued! He could have been taken in by Ame and healed!"

"Oh God," Tayuya muttered exasperatedly. "Anko, would ya say something to shut them up? Anko?"

Naruto knew very well why his beloved friend had said nothing thus far. He could sense her leg trembling against his flesh. Her very heart pounded with a fervor greater than any he'd ever felt before and the hands that had been lovingly stroking his hair now clung to those same strands with desperate force.

There was so much potential drama and…emotional emission looming that Naruto could not help but think of Pain's teachings and the teachings of Naruto's own sensei. Emotional bonds were fatal to the successful completion of a mission and thus, fatal to shinobi. Naruto had to think like Pain and sensei, or else he would die. He couldn't let his own feelings distract him from what he came here for: Gaara. To get Gaara, his wounds had to be healed. To be healed, he had to force the only healer present to ignore the history between them and start actually fixing his wounds. And to do that…

Gently pushing a startled Anko away from him, Naruto stared at the blurry images of Sasuke and Sakura and announced quietly, "You're right. I'm Naruto."

The expressions of shock, dismay, and disbelief that adorned the faces of all who were present in that moment were as one would expect them to be, so it is quite unnecessary to describe to one something that one already has a fairly certain idea of.

As it were, Naruto merely smiled and continued in a voice weakened by his chakra exhaustion, "Need proof? I trained at the Genin Academy in Konoha for two years before being entered into the Konoha Shinobi Corps at the age of eight with my fellow classmates Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. Our Jounin sensei was Hatake Kakashi, whose laid-back demeanor contrasted infuriatingly with the seriousness of the war raging at the time. For the few months before the…accident, I was in danger of being demoted to Hannin. Until, however, my most-hated-rival-for-the-heart-of-the-beloved-Sakura –that's you, Sasuke – intentionally or unintentionally convinced me to dedicate my whole being to becoming stronger. I did and the three of us were some time later informed that, due to our exemplary performance in combat thus far, we would all be promoted to Teii Chuunin.

"Shortly after the three of us talked together about the achievement (revealing personal details that I'm sure Sasuke would love to keep private and hidden away), the Uchiha Massacre took place and Sasuke was left alone with nothing but his rage as company. He even rejected the friends who had been at his side during the most brutal of moments that the war had had to offer. Nevertheless, Sakura and I stayed by his side even in dear Sasuke's darkest moments, even going so far as to help him escape Konoha to hunt down Itachi. This most futile of quests ended expectedly: we were attacked by a squad of Kumo nin while journeying through the forests of Konoha bordering Ame. A battle ensued there that ultimately forced me to use an exploding clone to defeat our enemies. Unfortunately, I too was caught in the explosion and placed in a state as close to death as conceivably possible. Before Sakura and Sasuke could come to my aid, however, more Kumo nin arrived. As you might have by now guessed, Tayuya, my two beloved squad mates retreated with many tears and left me to my fate."

Sasuke and Sakura stared at Naruto. Even though their faces were blurs, Naruto could still see that they were pale and shivering, like that of children forced to confront the monster under the bed. It was rather pitiful to think about, if Naruto were to be honest with himself, and a part of him felt terrible for replaying a memory that they'd likely spent every hour of every day desperately trying to forget. But that wasn't his concern.

"Fortunately," he continued in the same cheery tone that he'd adopted throughout his entire narrative, "a battalion of Ame nin happened upon the scene and rescued me from the Kumo. Seeing my Konoha hitai-ate, they took me to their nearest medic and patched me up. They offered to take me back to Konoha, but I was far too traumatized psychologically to even consider such a thing. Thus, I stayed. Even after my wounds, both mental and physical, had healed – or at least scabbed over – I could not bear the thought of returning to those who had abandoned me.

"And so began a cycle of angst and brooding that would have made even you proud, Sasuke. It wasn't until I met Anko that I finally started opening up to others again. But that is irrelevant to the point of my telling this particular story. You wanted proof that I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I have given it to you. No one else in the world could possibly know that story and still be alive to tell it. I could not have Henged to look like Naruto, for such a Henge would have worn off long ago. In fact, I adopted a Henge when I came here that made me look _less _like myself, so as not to alert the Konoha authorities that I was still alive and capable of shinobi duties."

Naruto paused for a moment to cough violently. After he was done, he waited for a moment, both to rest his own body and to allow the torrent of information he'd just delivered to sink into the minds of his audience.

"I also disguised myself to avoid dealing with our 'issues'," he went on. "Such things are best left to fade. The rage and hatred I felt for you two died long ago, but so too did our friendship. It is, as I've said, best if we forget and move on."

Naruto's eyesight had faded considerably by this point, preventing him from seeing Sakura and Sasuke's full reactions. Yet he could still make out their body language and it was every bit as sad and torn as he'd feared it would be.

"But there are so many questions," Sakura finally mumbled as bright and shimmering things fell from her eyes onto her face, "and so much pain. Ever since we were eight, Sasuke and I have been consumed with guilt and agony. How can we forget that? How can we see you lying there in front of us, healthy and alive, and ignore the…the feelings welling up inside of us? Tell me!"

"We're shinobi," Naruto answered simply. "That's what we do. We ignore our own emotions so that the mission at hand can be completed. We're pragmatists, in other words. For example, my body is currently shutting down because I expended too much chakra in my efforts to defeat. There are infinite ways with which we can deal with this, but the two most likely to occur are as follows: we sit here delving into the quagmire of our own collective past or you use the last of your healing liquid to get me into a stable state. I won't be able to help you this time, so you'll most likely pass out afterwards. This means that there's no guarantee I'll be here when you awaken, thus robbing you of the certainty of working out our problems. The choice you have to make is clear then: you give in to your humanity or you stay true to the shinobi nature beaten into you as a child."

Sakura clenched her teeth and glared at him hatefully. Though her figure was blurry, Naruto could all but feel the rage boiling within her veins. He wasn't worried, however. He knew Sakura wasn't an idiot. Consequently, he wasn't at all surprised when the sweet smelling opening of the miracle water's canister was abruptly shoved into his mouth and then the liquid itself poured down his throat. Immediately afterwards, he saw two pale blobs – presumably her hands – place themselves over his chest and then begin forming hand signs. Once she was finished, Naruto heard her cry out, "_Sūton__: Tengoku no Hikari!_"

Energy and life as brilliant as the _issui _soared into his body with the speed of lightning. Everything around him exploded with color, nearly blinding him with their radiance and beauty. He could taste the holy water flowing through him and healing everything it touched like the hand of God.

When the jutsu was complete, Naruto sat up and gasped for air. This resulted in another fit of coughing, though with much less saliva and no blood at all.

He smirked and allowed himself to marvel at the jutsu's effects. Sakura was truly gifted. When she'd used it to heal him the first time, Naruto had been baffled by how quickly and painlessly it had healed the gaping hole in chest. He'd even been ready to fight afterwards (though he had had to wait until a proper opening was revealed, i.e., Sasuke exploding with dark chakra).

Now, however, Naruto could see what the jutsu actually did. The chakra bubbling warmly within him was not his own. It was Sakura's. Truthfully, any properly trained shinobi could give their chakra to others in order to reenergize them. This was merely a temporary fix, however, and nowhere near a substitute for actual healing. What Sakura was doing with her jutsu was exactly the same thing, except that she was taking it one step further. Instead of giving someone her chakra and being done with it, she was commanding it to go straight to the body's wounds and begin healing them. Medic nin did something very similar with their healing jutsu, save for the fact that they could only target one area at a time. By having her chakra travel with her "miracle" water through the body, Sakura could reach many areas of the body at once. Naruto was sure that there were several flaws in addition to the enormous chakra drain; but on the whole, he felt comfortable in saying that Sakura's jutsu was ingenious.

Naruto blinked and realized his vision had more or less returned, finally allowing him to see everything around him once again. Glancing to his left, he noticed Sasuke tenderly holding Sakura, who appeared to be unconscious.

_The markings on Sasuke's skin are completely gone_, Naruto realized suddenly.

They'd been practically crawling back into Sasuke earlier. Had they really disappeared so quickly?

Yet the black symbols that had seemed to be burnt into Sasuke's flesh had indeed vanished. There had been something eerily familiar about them when he'd first seen them, but he couldn't hope to put his finger on it with all that had just happened. Sasuke appeared to be fine at any rate. That was a good sign at least.

"For another time then," he muttered wearily.

Naruto made to stand up, but his muscles, aching and tired, refused to listen and he fell to his knees. Anko was at his side instantly, wrapping his around her neck and hoisting his light frame up. Naruto glanced at her to thank her, but found the words flounder about in his mouth upon noticing sadness that weighed down her eyes.

Frowning, he turned away and told Tayuya in a calm tone, "We can leave now. Grab Gaara and follow us out of here. Anko and I know a few good places to lay low and—"

"You're leaving?" Sasuke asked incredulously, his dark eyes boring into Naruto's own.

Naruto wilted under his former teammate's fierce gaze and looked away towards the ground. Now was not the time to talk. Talking would bring up memories and memories would prevent him from leaving. He had to be calm and impassive, like Pain. Pain wouldn't let feelings tie him down. Pain wouldn't—

"She'll be crushed, Naruto!" Sasuke yelled fervently. "How can you just leave her – leave _us_ – so coldly? We've spent all this time cursing ourselves for letting you die, yet you—"

"Enough," Naruto interrupted firmly. "This is pointless to discuss any further."

Truthfully, Naruto wanted to leave as quickly as possible. His emotions were growing stronger and stronger within his mind and it was taking every ounce of willpower he had to hold them back.

_I slipped up the very first time I saw Sakura before the Exams_, he thought grimly. _If I stay her any longer, I'll never be able to turn back._

"I promise you," Naruto stated softly, "I'll come back and talk. About everything. But right now, I have to leave.

"Why?" Sasuke demanded vehemently and desperately. "You're with Ame, so that makes you are ally. You have every right to stay with us!"

Naruto nervously scrunched Anko's jacket within his hands as he watched Sasuke stop for a moment and take a deep breath.

"We've suffered for so long, Naruto," he continued sadly. "How can you make us suffer even more? Are you now so cold that even the pleas of your friends don't move you?"

"How dare you?" Anko shouted suddenly. "You were the ones who left Naruto to die! What does he owe you besides his hate?"

Naruto watched the scene with growing despair. A nightmare more terrible than any he could have imagined had now come to life and he had no idea how to end it.

"We're leaving Naruto!" Anko shouted, dragging Naruto with her as she did.

Naruto cringed before Sasuke's horrified stare. He had no idea what to say.

"I-I—"

The words were stolen from him by a pale bird that landed on his nose. Naruto's eyes widened in shock, but he did not move. His body wouldn't allow him to.

"What is that?" Tayuya asked suspiciously.

From the corner of his eye, Naruto watched her unsheathe a kunai from one of her pouches. All those around him did the same, except for Anko.

"Is that what I think it is?" she wondered apprehensively.

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when the bird suddenly unfolded into a small paper letter. It read:

_Naruto and Anko,_

_Word has reached us of the hostile climate in Konoha and we will need you to stay there and discover the source of the unrest. You will deliver it once we give word._

_ Best Regards,_

_ The Lady Angel_

_P.S. This letter released a wide-range sleeping genjutsu upon being opened in order to—_

Naruto and everyone else in the clearing fell to the ground unconscious, leaving the troubling matters of the real world for another time.

"Greetings, Hokage-dono," the Kazekage called out cheerfully. "Have you come to celebrate our overwhelming victory?"

Sarutobi eyed the fifty shinobi standing guard over the Kazekage and nodded to his four Takai Jounin.

"In part," he replied. " But I'm afraid that you won't be a part of it, Orochimaru."

The area became shrouded in tense silence immediately. Sarutobi smiled upon seeing the panicked expressions on the faces of the guards, reveling in their shock.

"How long have you known?" the man beneath the Kazekage's robes asked finally.

Sarutobi merely kept smiling.

"I suppose it doesn't matter," Orochimaru remarked with a chuckle, throwing his robes off as he did so.

The green and white cloth fell off of Orochimaru's perch slowly, floating with the wind within Konoha like a dazed turtledove. Above it stood Orochimaru, as pale and elegant as he'd ever been.

_He's so young_, Sarutobi realized with a slight sense of alarm. _How?_

"You're outmatched, my old student," Sarutobi proclaimed calmly, expertly hiding his doubts.

"Oh?" the snake Sennin wondered mockingly. "I had heard that you're 'Takai' were skilled, but I had no idea they could defeat fifty of my best men _and _still contend with me after I'm done impaling you upon Kusanagi."

"They're not alone, dear pupil," Sarutobi declared cheerfully.

He tapped his cane lightly upon the stone of the roof he stood upon and innumerable clouds of smoke instantly appeared. Out of them stepped forth countless ANBU and ROOT members, at whose head stood the ever vigilant Danzou.

"We are at your command, Hokage-sama," the old war hawk called out.

Sarutobi stared at Orochimaru and was pleased to find a small grimace on his former student's face.

"Let us begin then," Sarutobi announced slyly.

**A/N****: **Three months since I've last updated…wow. I guess I just got wrapped up in summer. With college started again in a few weeks, however, I should be updating much more frequently. I hope.

As always, I urge you to review and leave constructive criticism galore. Oh all right, I'll let you flame me this _one time _since I've been away for so long. I'm sure you'll all be good sports about it…

Anyway, I really hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. I put so much in it that I'm kind of wondering I should have split it up into two pieces. I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

To conclude, I once again hope you enjoyed this segment of _Naze? _and are as eager to reach the next chapter as I am.

Oramo

_Kujiku_—"Crush"

_Torimono_—"Capture"

_Meikai no Jutsu_—"Clarity Jutsu"

_Aishiteru_—"I love you": A very, very formal term that is rarely used due to the emotional weight behind it (as well as the fact that the Japanese rarely say "I love you")

_Ninpo: Koppamijin itte Senshi_—"Ninja Art: Shatter and Stab": I wasn't sure what form "te" should have been in, so I settled for "itte". If this is the correct version, or if any of you know of the correct version, please let me know.

_Kunai Daibakuha_—"Kunai Great Explosion"

_Torimono: Saisho Dankai_—"Capture: First Stage"

_Torimono: Niban Dankai_—"Capture: Second Stage"

_Fukkan_—"Aide-de-camp"

**Shukaku's Malice**:

_Āsmḩwā al-Mkhāwf Fy ʼḨlk al-Khāş Lk_: Let your darkest fears within you

_Āsmḩwā Rwḩk Tdhwy Fy Ghyāhb an-Nsyān_: Let your soul wither away into oblivion.

_an-Nwm al-ʼĀn Wnnsá Kl Mā Tbdhlwnh Mn Mtāʻb ad-Dnyā_: Sleep now and forget your worldly troubles.

_Ānā Āwşykm ʻLá an-Nwm ʼLá al-ʼBd, Ḩtá ʼTmkn Mn Tnāwl aţ-Ţʻām Rwḩk_: I command you to sleep forever, so I can devour your soul.

_Qef fwra_: Stop immediately!

These are all in Arabic, a magnificent language which I think fits perfectly with the Bijuu's enigmatic nature. I am not implying that the Arabic language or people are demonic. Far from it. I merely find the language to be as beautiful and exotic as the Bijuu in my story. If all of you like the use of Arabic in this story, I may continue to use it. If not, I'll never write of it in this story again.

_Makyo no Ran_— "Demonic Haunts Disorder"

_Sen'ejiashu_—"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands"

Takai Jounin—"High Jounin"

_Sūton__: Tengoku no Hikari_—"Water Style: Light of Heaven"


	19. Aratana Hajimaru

**A/N: **Chapter 19 is up and ready to be read. As most of you expected, this chapter will cover the battle between Sarutobi and Orochimaru, as well as the consequences of the discovery of Naruto's true identity.

I'd like to point out that I was listening to David Garrett's violin version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" while I was writing the beginnings of the Sarutobi and Orochimaru battle. Very epic song that I encourage everyone to listen to.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 19 of _Naze?_, titled "Aratana Hajimari".

_Aratana Hajimari_

The forest air was calm, a first since the fighting had begun. This air became a gentle breeze every few moments, caressing gently the skin of the sleeping children. Their hair billowed lightly around them and their eyes fluttered as they dreamt. Tranquility and peace were the watchwords of that moment, and the undying youth and beauty of those lying beneath the trees would forever linger in the memory of the forest.

A gleam of white suddenly disturbed the scene. A small slip of paper – a descendant of trees, as it were – whose white color reflected the sun brilliantly, slowly slipped out of the grasp of one of the children. It could have been the breeze that caused it to move, but its motion was far too lifelike for that.

The paper slid the last of its four corners out of the boy's hands and then fell to the ground. After but a moment in this state, it started to fold itself into a vaguely familiar shape. Sharp and distinct creases formed at its edges and triangles of varying shapes pieced themselves together in perfect unity.

The final result was a bird, white as the snow and as real as any avian specimen that sailed through the skies. Lifting its dainty wings up above its shoulders, the tiny creature bounded into the air and sped off towards some unknown destination. Now none would ever know the words that it bore within itself, save for the trees looking down from above.

Masked ANBU and ROOT members sailed through the air as dark blurs, clashing silently with their vicious opponents, faux Suna guards of Orochimaru. Those who were the physically stronger of their respective groups raced to the front lines, while those who specialized in ranged jutsu and strategies fell back and began forming supporting their allies at the front.

All of this motion and thought occurred within a single instant, a soft whirl that was evidenced only by the disappearance of half of the forces on each side. The remaining halves collided like lightning within thundercloud, crashing and beating together as if in rhythm to the pounding of the spear of the war god, Bishamonten.

Orochimaru observed all of this with ever-growing eagerness. Grinning wildly, he slowly slid his hand into his mouth and wrapped his serpentine fingers around the hilt of Kusanagi. Extending his jaw beyond human limits, he pulled the sword from out of the depths of his stomach and then flung it high into the air, causing small droplets of saliva to fly off of it as it twirled. It landed almost an instant later in roof upon which Orochimaru stood, impaling the stonework as easily as if it were silk.

"Are you prepared, Sarutobi-sensei?" he demanded quietly.

The old man smiled and handed his cane to one of the Takai Jounin standing behind him. With withered hands, the Hokage grabbed his robe and threw it to the ground, revealing a suit of shinobi armor that Orochimaru had seen countless times before.

Watching the crimson Hokage hat fall through the air after his own Kazekage uniform, Orochimaru commented sinisterly, "This is going to be such good fun…"

In a whirl of blindingly fast motion, he was in front of Sarutobi like a thunder crack. He threw his fist at the old warrior, only to have it blocked by the forearm of one of the Takai. A second Takai immediately whipped a chakra-laced kunai at him, while yet another leapt in front of the Hokage and blew forth a stream of fire.

Orochimaru leapt back several yards, leaned back casually, and allowed the torrent of heat and metal to fly over him. He smirked as a fist made completely of stone erupted directly beneath the center of his spine. Orochimaru dislocated his left arm instantly, reached around with said arm, and grabbed the pillar of rock, stopping it in its tracks completely. He disappeared in a blur before the next attack could occur and then reappeared on the roof of a nearby building.

Unblinkingly popping his shoulder back into his place, Orochimaru smirked once again and remarked mockingly, "I didn't know the Hokage had grown so frail that his subordinates had to do all the fighting for him. How pitiful to see, especially from the 'God of Shinobi'."

Orochimaru cocked an eyebrow when Sarutobi suddenly stepped out from behind his guards.

"You are right," the Hokage called out calmly. "You were my mistake, Orochimaru, and you are mine to fix. This fight will be between you and me, no one else."

Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly when Sarutobi smiled.

"Of course," the old warrior continued, "I don't want them to merely stand here. Perhaps you could provide someone to entertain them while we battle?"

Intrigued by the idea, Orochimaru analyzed the Takai carefully. They were clothed in standard shinobi pants and sandals that were of the purest black and their heads were covered by a piece of dark cloth that had a thin red strip across the eye area to allow their wearers some degree of visibility. Dark swords with a red sash protruding from their helms were strapped to the backs of the Takai and red symbols of fire had been imprinted onto either a sleeve of their clothes or their flesh, binding them in ways that Orochimaru knew of very well.

The clothing that adorned their upper bodies, however, was different for each of them. One, with a frame smaller and daintier than the rest, wore an elegant velvet shirt whose hem reached down to their knees and whose sleeves extended well past their fingertips. Another wore a vest, shirt, and glove combo not unlike that which normal Jounin and Chuunin used, save that both items were completely black. The other two had robes that were similar to that of the smaller Takai, save that one was missing a sleeve and the other was missing both.

A characteristic they shared that particularly interested Orochimaru was the five red kanji that vertically lined the left side of all of their masks:

無

限

の

昇

天

Orochimaru smiled knowingly at the inscription. It was something that he'd come up with during his genin years. The idea that shinobi and civilians spent their entire lives trying desperately to ascend to the next level or the next social class had always seemed utterly tragic to him when he was a boy. He knew now, of course, that ascension was the only thing meaningful in this chaotic world. If one did not desire to be better or to achieve perfection, what else could one hope for? Unfortunately, he had been naïve in childhood and, as a result, he'd composed a poem, which he'd titled "Infinite Ascension", to show to Sarutobi during one of their many philosophical debates. His sensei had been quite fascinated with it, if Orochimaru recalled correctly. So much so, it seemed, that the old fool had used the kanji of the poem's title as a_ Tamashī no kusari_.

_My, my_, Orochimaru thought with a touch of happiness, _sensei has become quite ruthless in his old age._ _That's actually very unfortunate for me. If they're bound by _Tamashī no kusari_, they'll be immune to genjutsu and pain. Their advantage is such that if even five more show up, the entire battle is over. Then…my primary goal is to escape. I can live with that, especially considering how quickly Sasuke's Curse Mark has progressed. The explosion of darkness took everyone else by surprise, but not I. I could feel his hatred burn like the fires of Hell. I alone could hear the rage boiling and bubbling within his veins. If there ever was a God or angels who rest with soft wings upon the clouds of Heaven, then such would be the music they play._

He sighed happily.

_All that remains now_, he continued, _is for Tayuya and Jirobo to bring me Jinkoumaru. Once I have him, I'll be one step closer to "ascension". But first I have to ensure the Takai are dealt with long enough for that to happen. I may even get to kill the old man. It doesn't matter either way. I'll slit his throat at some point. _

With a sudden motion of his hand, several puffs of smoke appeared behind him. They dissipated quickly, revealing four figures garbed completely in white.

"These will suffice," Orochimaru told his old sensei carelessly.

Turning to his newly summoned soldiers, he ordered, "Attack the Takai with full force. Bring glory to my name and…do whatever else you do…"

The white-robed figures bowed their heads worshipfully and shouted, "Hai, Orochimaru-sama!"

They vanished in a gleam of light. Orochimaru watched on as Sarutobi nodded and the Takai disappeared in faint blurs.

"I didn't think you had it you," he remarked suddenly and gleefully, referring to the Takai. "Using ancient arts to bind your soldiers? My dear sensei, you're becoming as ruthless and cold-hearted as me. And I've been told that's borderline psychotic. Or, I think I've been told that. I can't really tell since their throats are usually split wide open…"

As he spoke, Orochimaru eyed Sarutobi carefully, watching him for any movements that would indicate he was initiating an attack. Sarutobi, however, merely stood there. His brown eyes were shadowed over by his helmet and the green sash that was wrapped around the helmet billowed in the wind majestically, creating the ideal portrait of an old and valiant hero facing down the most villainous of enemies.

Sneering, Orochimaru smoothly formed a Ram seal within the crook of his left arm. On the roof where he had previously stood, Kusanagi quivered. With but a swift motion of his finger, Orochimaru could send the divine blade straight towards Sarutobi. The attack wouldn't work, of course, but it would force Sarutobi's hand

"You have no idea how long I've looked forward to this," Orochimaru continued. "The idea of killing you, the most powerful Hokage in Konoha's history, is too beautiful a challenge to ignore. But alas, your hunched and weak figure has reminded me that you are no longer that great god. The deity that once loomed over me as a child is now but a shadow, a fading memory fit only for history. It's quite disappointing, really. However…"

Orochimaru made sharp downward movement with his right index finger and sent the Kusanagi sailing through the air towards Sarutobi. The sharp blade cut through the air like lightning, crackling with energy and power.

"_Doton: Chikyū-shin no Shiro!_"

A rod of earth shot up from the ground and collided with Kusanagi, creating a powerful explosion of chakra. Orochimaru winced and shielded his eyes from the light of the blast. When it faded, he opened his eyes and immediately scanned the area for his sword. This search was halted abruptly when he noticed the massive earthen fortress that now claimed hold of the area where Sarutobi had once been.

Awestruck for the first time in years, Orochimaru could only watch as pillars of soil and rock gracefully rose up from the pits of the ground and then built upon the slowly growing citadel. The pillars slid up the earthy walls of the structure and merged with other pillars to form mighty turrets and more powerful walls. Small openings large enough to stick one's head through dotted the walls in orderly rows that cascaded down the length of the castle.

_What could those be for? _he wondered in genuine curiosity. _Surely nothing resides within that behemoth._

A speck of light suddenly caught Orochimaru's eye and he found himself looking at Kusanagi. The mighty sword was but a speck of silver next to the castle, but Orochimaru could still see that it was embedded in the walls of the northernmost turret. Without hesitation, Orochimaru commanded Kusanagi to him. To his surprise, the blade did not immediately reply. It twitched and wriggled within its prison, but could do no more than that.

Scowling, Orochimaru extended his hand towards the blade and exerted his full will upon it. The blade erupted from the wall instantly, spewing earth and stone everywhere, and sailed back towards its master. Orochimaru swiftly grasped the helm of Kusanagi once it was within his reach and expertly twirled down to his side.

"What do you think of it?" a wizened voice called out, obviously amplified by chakra.

Orochimaru's scowl deepened as he turned towards the old man sagely resting upon the top of his massive fort. Sarutobi seemed as small as Kusanagi had when next to the castle, but Orochimaru could taste the pride radiating from within the old man.

"This jutsu," Sarutobi continued, "is one that represents completely my attitude towards battle. I am old and frail, Orochimaru, and I would surely fall if I were to physically go head-to-head with one such as you. Thus, I have adapted. If my body can no longer defend my mind, then this castle will. Your move, my old student."

_Cocky old bastard_, Orochimaru thought venomously.

He formed a Ram seal and prepared to cast a jutsu, but a movement at his feet stopped him immediately. Slowly slithering its way up over the roof's edge was a great root connected to the castle.

Orochimaru leapt away immediately, but with a flick of his wrist he also let loose a _Gisōhebi_ to peek its camouflaged head over the rim of the roof to discover the source of the root. Covering his left eye immediately after he landed, Orochimaru replaced the snake's vision with his own. What he saw worried him immensely.

Hundreds of roots were slowly snaking their way out from under the base of the castle and moving towards every building in Konoha. Those structures that were touched were instantly enveloped in a green light similar to that which was emanated from the hands of medic-nin. The buildings beneath the castle were also covered in this light, though this was difficult to see considering that the castle appeared to be absorbing them into itself. In short, Orochimaru realized, the castle was defending not only Sarutobi, but the entire village as well.

"H-help me…p-p-please!"

Neji stared, horrified, at the dying kunoichi lying in the hospital bed next to him. The bandages that feebly attempted to shield her wounds from both germs and eyes did little on either account, for blood seeped through them easily, causing great red blotches to dot her already bruised and disfigured flesh. Her skin, understandably pale and drawn, shivered periodically due to the tremors that wracked her body. Worst of all, however, was the desperation glimmering within her eyes. He had read many books detailing the emotion that lay within one's eyes, or the region around them, but he'd never put any stock into it. Now, as he helplessly gazed upon those green orbs darting frantically from person to person, Neji felt realization crash down upon his mind like a great anchor. He knew that he would remember this moment forever.

A soft rustling of sheets startled Neji out of his bleak thoughts. Searching for the source of the sound, Neji found himself looking at a very demure and kind girl with violet hair and gentle eyes the color of lavender.

_Hinata? _Neji wondered in shock.

He remembered that the condition she'd been after their Preliminary fight had been severe, but had it truly debilitated her to the point that she had had to be hospitalized for a month?

It turned out to be irrelevant, for Hinata tossed her sheets aside without a thought and hobbled over to the woman's side. Once there, she smiled compassionately at the woman, muttered something to her, and then placed her hands over a spot on the kunoichi's chest. A warm green light shimmered into existence around Hinata's hands instantly, perfectly capturing the awe that filled Neji's mind upon witnessing his meek cousin's inner strength.

A rumble suddenly shook the center, knocking Hinata over and ending her healing jutsu. Neji, forgetting himself, made to help her, but he only succeeded in collapsing. With a hard clap, his legs and elbow slammed into the ground. The numerous wounds he bore from his battle with Jinkoumaru were too much, it seemed. He would have to resign himself to waiting for his injuries to hea—

"_Shōsen Jutsu._"

Neji stared on dumbfounded as Hinata weakly reached up from her position on the floor, placed her hand on the kunoichi, and then reactivated her jutsu.

_She defies not only fate_, Neji exclaimed mentally, _but logic as well! How could she risk her already low chakra levels on some nameless grunt? Doesn't she care about herself? Doesn't she understand that she could die? Is she trying to gain attention for herself? That must be it! How disgusting…_

As he looked upon his frail and pathetic cousin, however, Neji could not help but feel a small bit of admiration for her. Here, as medic-nin and nurses desperately raced by to help the growing number of wounded from some unknown battle, Hinata was healing an unknown comrade without any apparent want of recognition or praise. The fact that this kunoichi was obviously fated to die seemed to mean nothing to her. Why then, would she engage in such reckless behavior?

_Maybe_, Neji wondered, an answer slowly coming to him as he lay upon the cold hospital floor, _maybe she's helping simply because the girl needs her. It doesn't matter that her death is certain. Or "fated". Hinata is using all of her being to heal a doomed stranger because…_because_. It's so childish and stupid, yet I can't help feeling the greatest sense of respect for her. Is that because my own belief in some entity called "Fate" is just as childish?_

Neji frowned and closed his pale eyes, wondering for the first time in his young life about the possibilities of a Fate-less world. The medical staff around him merely ran by, all of them attempting desperately to create some semblance of order out of the chaos that the battle had caused.

A porcelain mask resembling the face of an otter shattered beneath the faux Suna nin's fist. The owner of the mask, an ANBU, rocketed downwards into a nearby building and crashed into it. The impact caused a minor ripple to appear across the green aura surrounding the building. The ANBU lay motionless atop the unharmed building, causing Orochimaru's minion to sneer. Leaping off of the building his stood upon, the Oto nin eagerly sailed through the air towards his prey.

Two feet suddenly slammed into the side of his face, crunching bone and flesh alike into fine powder. For the briefest of moments, everything appeared to be moving in slow motion. The feet stepped into the face with vicious tenacity, the skin of the Oto nin rippled outward like paste from a tube, and shock lit up within the Oto nin's eyes like a freshly lit candle.

In a blur of speed and power, everything returned to normal speed and the Oto nin was sent crashing into the green shield. His body smacked painfully against the stone surface, no doubt setting his nerves and joints afire. The shock of the impact was great enough that he lay in that same spot for several moments, too dazed to do anything other than moan piteously. Finally, he planted his hands into the ground and began to slowly heave himself up. A ROOT member abruptly landed on his neck and snapped it inwards, smashing the man's head into the ground. The body twitched for but an instant, and then lay still.

Orochimaru tore his eyes away from the ongoing battle surrounding him and back onto his sensei. He twirled his smooth dark hair playfully within sickly pale fingers and thought upon the joy he felt while watching others die. Battle and chaos had always fascinated him, ceaselessly serving to entertain him whenever he was bored. It was curious to think that so many others found it repulsive and cruel.

Ultimately, however, he could not dwell within his mind forever. Orochimaru pursed his lips and then sighed exasperatedly. This new jutsu was an unexpected development that he could have surely done without. For Sarutobi to have used such a dangerous technique surely spoke volumes of the man's dedication to Konoha. But there had to be a catch to it, otherwise the other Nations would have developed similar defenses. The only way he would find out what the catch was would be to probe Sarutobi's defenses.

_The strategy that comes to mind immediately_, Orochimaru thought analytically, leaping off of the roof towards another building as he did so, _is to summon Manda and have him attack the castle directly. The wretched creature would demand more sacrifices, but that's not an issue. Manda's attacks would give me more time to find a way around these defenses and engage Sarutobi directly. And after that…yes, it_ _would work._

Orochimaru landed on another roof, immediately formed several hand seals in quick session, and then slammed his palms down onto the rooftop, crying out, "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_"

A massive puff of smoke encased the area immediately. When it dissipated, the long coils of Manda, lord of all snakes, were wrapped around Orochimaru's building. His great purple head, with serpentine eyes oozing malice, swung around to face Orochimaru.

"How dare you summon me here, Orochimaru?" the great snake lord demanded. "You know better than any other miserable mortal that I loathe this place above all others, yet—"

"Yes, yes, a hundred thousand sacrifices will be made in your honor, but could you please, my dear Lord Manda, attend to the problem at hand?"

Manda glared at Orochimaru in a manner that would have frozen the hearts of anyone else. Fortunately, Orochimaru wasn't anyone else.

"Now don't look at me that way," Orochimaru chided playfully. "I understand that this is a great inconvenience to you, but I had to give you this present as soon as possible."

Manda stared at Orochimaru suspiciously and asked, "What gift do you speak of?"

"Him," Orochimaru replied, happily pointing at Sarutobi.

Swinging his large triangular head in the direction Orochimaru was pointing at, Manda abruptly locked eyes with the Sandaime.

"Ah," the snake hissed knowingly, a terrifying grin spreading across his face, "I see. I take back what I said, Orochimaru. I'm quite glad you've summoned me here. The chance to kill this miserable creature is one that I've _longed _for."

_Manda never did like Sarutobi_, Orochimaru remembered fondly. _I believe it started when sensei asked me to kill the poor snake, or at least banish him. Such happy times…_

"I don't care what your plans are, Orochimaru," Manda continued. "I'm going to devour this wretch. Stay out of my way and I might ignore the debt you owe me."

_Works for me_, Orochimaru thought mirthfully.

The snake raced off instantly, slithering across Konoha with such speed that he was a mere blur. Orochimaru carefully watched the effect of Manda's long body on Konoha's roads and buildings and was amazed to find them completely unharmed. Squinting his eyes and activating his artificially enhanced eyesight in the process, Orochimaru realized that the green glow covering the area was absorbing all of Manda's weight and bulk, sparing everything from harm.

"Minion," Orochimaru muttered as he watched Manda get momentarily repelled by a barrage of roots.

A puff of smoke burst into existence behind him. It dissipated quickly, revealing a small figure clothed in garments barely fit to be called rags. A faded black mask covered his head, leaving only the poor soul's red eyes visible. Both of his pale arms were bare of any clothing and they were covered in numerous seals and binding jutsu. One such jutsu located on his skinny left bicep glowed red from use.

"How c-can I be of service, M-my Lord?" the figure asked in a weak and weary voice.

Without even turning around, Orochimaru demanded, "Are they ready?"

The figure glanced up fearfully and replied, "Y-you mean—yes, yes, yes! My Lord, t-they are yours to c-c-command!"

"Excellent," Orochimaru replied smoothly. "Summon them here. I want them at full strength for this battle."

"T-truly?" the figure asked, his voice both terrified and ecstatic.

Orochimaru did not answer, focusing instead on the battle ensuing between the giant Manda and the even larger castle.

"I-I will s-s-summo—"

A choked sob escaped from the figure's throat. It spoke of great pain and even greater longing.

Orochimaru rolled his eyes, but said nothing. This would be the lad's last moments, after all.

"_Kuchiyose: Jisatsu wa Edo Tensei!_"

A pillar of chakra erupted around the boy, bathing him in beautiful blue light. Two coffins burst up from the ground in front of Orochimaru immediately afterwards, one marked with the symbol for "One" and the other with the symbol for "Two". Finally, two halves of a third coffin appeared on both sides of the boy.

"FOR OROCHIMARU-SAM—"

The halves slammed together, eternally sealing the boy and sacrificing him for Orochimaru's arcane jutsu. The snake Sennin had ordered his Oto troops to begin preparing all three of the bodies, but Sarutobi's surprise attack had only given them time to complete two. This slight modification to his original jutsu was a quick, albeit deadly, way to work around this problem.

The two coffins standing in front of him creaked open, letting two forms fall forward into free air. The figures halted before collapsing to the ground completely and took several halting steps forward to gain some semblance of balance.

"What is this?" one of the figures, dark hair falling limply across his crimson armor-covered shoulders, asked.

Orochimaru scrutinized the legendary Shodaime Hokage carefully before replying bluntly, "A battlefield. You're needed, my honored predecessors, to eradicate one Sarutobi Hiruzen."

"Hiruzen?" the second figure exclaimed, swerving around and revealing his degraded blue armor shining dully in the sunlight. "Who dares defile the sanctity of our death for such a heinous deed?"

"Me!" Orochimaru shouted gleefully with a happy flourish of his arms.

Whipping out two strange-looking kunai with red sashes around their handles, Orochimaru stabbed the venerable Hokages straight in the chests. The changes were instantaneous, delighting Orochimaru to no end. The gray tint to the dead warriors' skin vanished, being replaced by the flushed pallor of the living. The light faded from their eyes and the armor which they had died in gleamed as if newly refurbished by the most talented of blacksmiths. Best of all, however, the horror and shock marring their faces vanished completely, leaving only the blank masks of puppets.

"Kill Sarutobi," Orochimaru commanded, joy flooding out of his every orifice.

Without a word, the two dead Hokages leapt forward into the fray of the battle raging between Manda and Sarutobi.

Orochimaru smirked and turned back towards the last coffin.

"You will be _especially_ fun to play with," he uttered menacingly as the coffin slowly began opening. "Now awaken, Min—"

A whistling sound suddenly caught Orochimaru's attention, forcing him to stop his diatribe. He glanced behind him with suspicious eyes and found a large black object flying towards him at breakneck speed.

He flattened himself to the ground instantly, dodging the missile by mere inches. The bolt instead collided with the coffin, shattering the wood and piercing straight through whatever lay within. The coffin shuddered for a moment and crumbled to dust, carrying with it the almighty weapon that would have won Orochimaru the battle.

Frowning, Orochimaru nimbly slithered into a standing position and then searched for the attack's source. He found it in the numerous holes that lined the castle's walls. Dozens upon dozens of bolts were being launched from these holes at Manda and the two Hokages, preventing them from landing within even fifty yards of the mighty fortress.

Sitting calmly atop the castle was Sarutobi. Though Orochimaru couldn't see the old man's face, he would probably have ventured to guess that it was filled with sorrow. Both of the Sandaime's beloved mentors and role models were now relentlessly attacking him at the whim of his former student. Tragic…

Orochimaru chuckled.

_Sarutobi will never call for reinforcements now_, he thought. _He'll most likely want to finish me off himself for disrespecting the memory of Konoha's founders. How typical._

He sent out several pulses of chakra in varying degrees of potency, creating a code that only the undead Hokages could understand. Both of them responded, though in different ways. The Shodaime leapt onto a nearby rooftop and began summoning a mass of roots that rivaled those of the castle in number. His brother, on the other hand, retreated behind the bulk of Manda's large body and formed a single hand seal.

"Manda," Orochimaru called out mockingly, "I'd get out of the way if I were you."

Orochimaru watched gleefully as the great snake lord swerved his head around to retort with vicious vituperation, but was subsequently stopped by the sight of the Shodaime's many roots racing through the air.

"Orochimaru!" Manda roared furiously, before nimbly slithering to the side.

Orochimaru laughed mirthfully as the Shodaime's roots clashed with those of the castle. Great limbs thrashed and ripped at each other, falling limply to the ground whenever they were severed from their source. Moans of bark and branch echoed tragically throughout the area, eliciting a strange sense of nostalgia within Orochimaru for the ancient days of gods and lore…

_Stay in reserve Manda_, he commanded suddenly via chakra pulse. _You aren't needed._

The roar that followed the order was expected and terrifying, but Orochimaru knew that Manda would understand the necessity for such a maneuver. He watched on satisfactorily as the snake quickly removed himself from the battle and slunk down behind several buildings in wait.

Seeing that his summon was taken care of, Orochimaru sent out three chakra pulses towards the Nidaime that commanded him to initiate the attack. The response was immediate. A great wave of water instantly erupted from the base of the castle, whipping beneath the fortress with the sole goal of bringing the mighty structure down. The dirt upon which the castle stood disintegrated into the torrent of water, causing the entire thing to visibly tip to the side. Orochimaru smirked when he saw Sarutobi fall to the side, leaving a gaping hole in his defenses.

"Time to die sensei," he muttered above the roar of the water as the Shodaime attacked with a spear of wood.

Orochimaru carefully watched the spear travel through the air towards Sarutobi's vulnerable heart. It drew closer and closer with each passing breath, bringing with it a growing sense of victory that Orochimaru found to be more glorious than anything he had ever felt.

"_Fukkatsu: Hi no Zen'nō no Ryū!_"

Fire suddenly exploded up from the top of the castle, covering the area in a wave of intense heat. A great dragon burst into existence immediately afterwards, growling with the might of the gods of themselves. Flames engulfed the water, roots, and spear instantly, incinerating them as if they had never been. The castle immediately began healing itself, until the entire thing stood erect as it had before.

Orochimaru frowned and ordered via chakra pulse for the Hokages to retreat…but it was too late. As the hollow corpses desperately tried to sprint back, the fire dragon wrapped its deadly jaws around them and swallowed them into the pits of its stomach. The dragon then turned a divine eye onto Orochimaru and roared with such power that the Snake Sennin was temporarily quailed.

_What is this? _he wondered as the flames rapidly began encircling him.

The green aura protecting Konoha's buildings shimmered beneath the radiance of the fire, causing ripples of jade light to splash across everything that Orochimaru could see. It was as ethereal and surreal as a lake twinkling with starlight in the cold of autumn. Beauty and light lay within the dragon's eye, drawing Orochimaru further and further into tranquility. All was so fiery and passionate. Could he not stay…?

Orochimaru desperately tore himself away from the dragon and then slammed his palms onto the ground.

"_Kuchiyose: Entō-gata_ _Rashōmon!_"

Four Rashōmon gates instantly popped into existence, surrounding Orochimaru in a protective cylinder. Three of the gates formed tall barriers around him, while the fourth slammed down on top of the others. The flames of the dragon roared around these gates, emitting an incredible degree of energy. The Rashōmon gates stood strong, however, and the flames advanced no further.

"A genjutsu within the dragon's eye?" Orochimaru asked himself as he analyzed the trance he'd been under. "Simply amazing. Doubtless I would have been engulfed in that inferno had I not recognized the illusion for what it was. Well done sensei, well done! But…I wonder if I can improve upon it."

_Manda_, he commanded suddenly via chakra pulse, _draw the dragon away from me by attacking Sarutobi. I'll back you up in a moment._

The only answer Orochimaru received was an explosion of sound and then a sudden decrease in the heat and intensity of the fire. Nodding approvingly, Orochimaru sat down upon the ground within the safety of his walls and allowed his brilliant mind to soar.

Fire raced down the snake lord's scaly back, searing and scorching his flesh horribly. Sarutobi smiled grimily when the damnable reptile hissed in pain.

Extending his right arm towards Manda, Sarutobi commanded his dragon to attack once more. The divine beast obeyed immediately. Its flaming body roared and crackled as it surged forth, eyes glowing with godly rage. Manda, though powerful in his own right, visibly quailed before the dragon and began trying to flee.

"_Katon: Karyūdan no Jutsu!_" Sarutobi ordered as he slammed his palms together and poured chakra into the dragon.

The massive maw of the dragon opened wide and let loose a stream of fire. Sarutobi watched on as Manda was engulfed by the flames and his scaly skin was incinerated. The smell of burning meat washed over Sarutobi, but he ignored. He had to keep the flames going until Manda was completely gone.

The chakra required for such an endeavor was enormous. Merely summoning the dragon would have caused Sarutobi to pass out had he done it using his own chakra. As it was, the castle provided all the energy he needed to both enlist the dragon's aid and utilize it effectively in battle. He was merely the conduit for the chakra to pass through. Truthfully, he could summon many more such dragons and sustain them for hours. The cost for such immense power, however, was enormous.

Sarutobi ceased the castle's flow of chakra to the dragon and halted the attack. The dragon's fire died away immediately, revealing what was left of Manda. Charred strands of flesh longer than most buildings marred the area. Interestingly, the skin resembled its owner to a very distinct degree, almost as if Manda had slipped right out of it.

Sarutobi cursed as he slammed his palms together once more.

The defensive wall of roots erupted from the base of the castle just in time to stop Manda as he burst up from the ground behind Sarutobi. Fangs gleamed in the sunlight as Manda snapped them around the wooden constructs that stood in his way. They were destroyed easily, but countless more rose up in their place.

Sarutobi willed the dragon towards Manda. The creature responded by disappearing in a pillar of fire and then reappearing behind Manda in the same manner.

"_Osou!_" Sarutobi shouted, directing the castle's chakra into his mighty summon.

In a flash of fire, the dragon wrapped its jaw around Manda and sunk its teeth into the snake's meaty body. Manda screamed in shock and writhed within the dragon's grasp, but it was in vain. The dragon's flames, completely consisting of fire, burned straight through Manda, searing and marring his body horribly.

Fully facing the battle between the two serpentine creatures, Sarutobi clenched his left hand into a fist beside his still fully extended right hand. The dragon responded by wrapping its entire body around Manda, covering the snake lord in flames that, if Sarutobi had structured the chakra correctly, would prevent Manda from dispelling.

Puffs of smoke briefly appeared across Manda's body, signaling that he was desperately trying to dispel. To Sarutobi's immense satisfaction, the dragon's intense flames were preventing Manda from leaving, instead torturing the snake with searing heat. Purple scales burned to dark crisps as Manda's thick and coiled flesh was squeezed tighter and tighter.

_Where's Orochimaru? _Sarutobi wondered suddenly.

"Kill him!" he commanded. "Kill him n—"

"_Shinkirō no Ryū!_"

Sarutobi was flung into the air and across the top of his castle by an incredible explosion. Clouds of dirt and earth were spewed everywhere, filling Sarutobi's vision with nothing but brown mist as he flew across the castle.

_Need to land_, he ordered his body.

Throwing his weight forward, Sarutobi planted his feet into the ground and slid the rest of the way that his momentum would carry him. When he felt the toes of his right foot hang over the edge of the castle's roof, he launched himself high into the air with chakra-powered legs and called forth the dragon with a slam of his palms.

"_Yame Saseru!_" he shouted.

He could feel the dragon, Manda still tight within its grasp, open its massive maw and spit forth a bolt of fire into the cloud of soil. The force of the blast dissipated the brown mist instantly, ripping it apart as if it were dark cream. Sarutobi allowed himself to fall towards the ground, where, upon touching the firm surface of the castle roof, he landed with chakra-reinforced legs.

As the last vestiges of the cloud faded away, Sarutobi winced with pain. His body was throbbing and aching from his exertions, furiously protesting his reckless use of it. Sarutobi glanced behind him and was relieved to find Manda still struggling within the dragon's grasp.

_Manda must be killed_, he told himself, _but it will take all of my concentration to tighten the noose. When that happens, Orochimaru will attack again and weaken my defenses even further. If I try to attack the Rashōmon, however, Manda will still be incapacitated and I'll be fighting one opponent. I only hope that the dragon will be able to hold Manda without my full attention._

"_Fukkatsu: Hi no Zen'nō no Ryū!_"

Sarutobi formed the required hand seal and summoned a second dragon to the front of the castle. It materialized in a pillar of fire, causing the air around it to ripple like the disturbed waters of a pond.

Fukkatsu…Resurrection. Sarutobi had been reluctant to unearth the _Shīchuán_ of the pre-Nation era and he'd been even more reluctant to modify them. The Fukkatsu Arts were developed shortly after the death of the Sage of the Six Paths, assumedly by one of his two sons. The creature being "resurrected" was actually a construct of the caster's desire and mind. In reality, it was what was being used to create the creature that was being resurrected.

According to documents dating from around that time period, the creatures created by the Fukkatsu Arts were immense in size and power, their initial purpose being to act as guardians against the Bijuu. Of course, they were soon used in battles between shinobi clans, but the sheer devastation caused by this forced the heads of all of the major shinobi clans to come together. Intense arguments and fights broke out at the congregation, but the need to survive won out in the end. Thus, two immutable laws were created. From that point on into eternity, all of the Fukkatsu Arts were forbidden to be used in combat against other shinobi. To ensure that only the most powerful shinobi (who were assumed to be wise because of their power) knew of the forbidden secret, all knowledge pertaining to the use of the Fukkatsu Arts was destroyed and any information that couldn't be destroyed was divvied up between the clans and sealed with binding chakra that was as ancient as the Sage himself.

"_Katon: Kyodai Karyūdan no Jutsu!_"

Sarutobi called out the jutsu in a clear voice as he directed the castle's chakra into the dragon. The dragon opened its great maw in response and let loose a bolt of fire as large as the building which Orochimaru's Rashōmon barrier rested upon. The fiery sphere exploded upon impact, shooting flames and sparks out and around the Rashōmon. The flames rolled like thunder across the shielded buildings of Konoha, engulfing air and stone in waves of heat. The ANBU, ROOT, and Oto nin battling in those areas managed to escape to safer grounds, but many were burned by the heat and temporarily incapacitated.

Sarutobi grimaced at this, but did not stop the stream of fire. He felt horrible for placing his loyal soldiers in harm's way, but he couldn't hold anything back when facing someone as deadly as Orochimaru. The Rashōmon was renowned for its durability. If Sarutobi's plan was to succeed, he would need to pry his former student out of his shell.

The flames continue to pour out of the dragon's mouth, eating at the demonic walls with the voracity of a tiger. The green aura, a miracle of miracles, protected the city, but Sarutobi knew too well that it wouldn't last forever. The same chakra that was powering the dragon's flames powered the aura. Technically, he was attacking the castle's chakra with an attack powered by that very same chakra. Nevertheless, Sarutobi knew that the heat inside of the Rashōmon cylinder would become completely unbearable well before the aura protecting Konoha shattered.

_Stay steady_, he told himself the heat radiating from the dragon intensified. _Hold firm, old man._

A ripple in the right periphery of his vision distracted him momentarily, but he dismissed it as a mirage caused by the dragon's heat.

An explosion suddenly knocked Sarutobi off of his feet and into the air, sending him hurtling across the brown landscape of the castle. Dust rose up like a tsunami and then swallowed him within its great maw, enveloping him in grainy darkness.

Pain. Burning, searing pain. Muscles writhed in agony and juices long held within the veins of the flesh boiled up into the air, spurting across charcoal flesh that longed to be shed. Worse of all, the noose of fire tightened with every attempt he made to escape.

Manda hissed, moaned, screamed, and gasped for breath and salvation. He was in hell, trapped within the grasp of a demon whose sole purpose was to make his eternity one of fire and misery. Never before had he been so helpless, so out of control of his own life. He was Manda, lord of all snakes and serpentine creatures. This dragon, however, held him bound and weak, unmoved by his reputation or power. Deep within his coiled body, Manda felt desperation leak into his gullet.

A gust of wind full of chakra suddenly blew across his face. Half a moment later, the back of the castle exploded outwards with dirt and debris. The dragon abruptly released him and soared into the cloud of dust, leaving Manda to fall weakly onto the ground.

Rolling one great yellow eye towards the source of the explosion, Manda caught a glimpse of a rippling form, shining beautifully in the sunlight. It looked very much like the damnable dragon that had held him in its fiery grasp, save that this wholly transparent dragon had green eyes and was smaller than its "cousin".

_Very clever, Orochimaru_, Manda thought wearily as the air brushed painfully against his burnt skin.

In a massive puff of smoke, Manda disappeared from the battlefield and returned to the sanctuary of his home.

The dust from the cloud, brown and thick as it billowed throughout the open air, clouded sight and sound within its massive womb. Smell, however, still remained and it was terrible. The stench, the odor, that wafted up into Orochimaru's thin nostrils elicited many memories of hours spent in dark, dank, and mossy dungeons carving up subjects to experiment upon. Most of them had been dead, their horrible living conditions leading many of them to die from disease and hunger. Regardless, the smell of the feces and urine and the rotting of their bodies as he extracted them from their iron cells was a smell Orochimaru would never forget. And that was why he recognized it immediately as it sailed through the air. It was why he suddenly understood what Sarutobi had done.

The cloud cleared and, as Orochimaru had expected, hundreds upon hundreds of bodies lying beneath the castle's walls were exposed to the world. Ethereal tendrils of chakra connected them to both the earth and each other, transferring the chakra from their emaciated and stinking bodies to the core of the castle where it would be used by Sarutobi to power his jutsu. The effects the jutsu had upon their bodies shone out easily against the earthy backdrop of the castle.

Their skin, pale and cold-looking, stretched tightly over their bones. The jutting architecture of their skeletal system, forming mountings and valleys beneath their flesh, was easily visible. Most horrifying of all were their eyes, which lay open to the world staring blankly and emptily at nothing and everything.

_Sensei…_, Orochimaru thought, _I have underestimated you. To tamper with the chakra of others is a grave act that only a missing nin would dare to attempt. For the revered Sandaime Hokage to even _consider _using it in his own city…_

Orochimaru placed a hand over his serpentine eyes and then giggled long and hard. Mirth bubbled forth from within him as he considered the irony of the entire situation. One of the most heinous forbidden jutsu of all time was being used against him by his old mentor. How could he not laugh?

Kakashi sprinted across shingled roofs of bark as explosions erupted in the background. His sandals clattered delightfully against the wood, which was a stark contrast to the turmoil boiling inside Kakashi's gut. He had seen the castle collapse all the way from the main command center near the walls. Alarms raced through his head even before the tornado of dust had come into being. Reacting instantly, he had taken off without a word from the safety of the post and zoomed across the battlefield with all of the speed attributed to his legend. He'd had to dodge several skirmishes between Oto nin and ROOT/ANBU members, but the latter group were in all cases winning handedly and he passed through untouched.

Now, as he drew nearer to the ruins of the castle, Kakashi felt his worry grow painfully. Orochimaru wasn't supposed to have been able to take the massive fortress down. As a Takai Jounin, Kakashi had been among the few who were privy to the Hokage's plan and he was sure that it had not involved the castle crumbling to the earth…or the Hokage expending his own chakra creating a dust storm powerful enough to trap Orochimaru within it.

_He should have been here by now_, Kakashi thought worriedly.

A powerful stench suddenly slammed into him, sending his stomach twisting into nauseous knots. Within moments, he came across two bodies draped limply over each other, their faces slack-jawed and empty. Kakashi knew where they had come from. The fading chakra chords around their limbs and bodies were more than enough evidence.

_They're jinsei no yōki_, he thought grimly.

A gust of wind suddenly roared over the rooftops into Kakashi, nearly knocking him out of the air. He swiftly flipped backwards, briefly touched down on the side of a building, and then leapt up onto an adjacent rooftop. Upon landing, he stretched out his senses to find the source of the wind. He had sensed the chakra rippling through it the moment it had slammed into his gut, but as for its origins—

The heat level of the air abruptly skyrocketed, stunning Kakashi out of his reverie. His eyes instantly went for the ruined castle. To his shock, the entire area was engulfed in a horrendously large pillar of fire. Twirling and dancing high into the deceptively calm sky, the pillar crackled like thunder as it incinerated all life within its domain.

_Finally_, Kakashi thought as relief flooded his heart. _You took your time, Jiraiya-sama._

_Several minutes earlier_

The rest of the Rashōmon disappeared in a cloud of smoke, just as the front wall had done moments after Orochimaru's _Shinkirō no Ryū _had traveled along the waves of heat of Sarutobi's dragons to the rear of the castle and sliced it open, effectively causing the hundreds of bodies on that side to spill out like grey puss. The white rolls of vapor that the Rashōmon's diffusion had created faded into nothing, leaving only the remaining dust of the castle and the bodies that had once filled it to the brim. The force of the bonds that had been holding the bodies back had been so great that, once released, the corpses had rocketed high into the air and then landed everywhere within a radius of several hundred yards.

Orochimaru stood alone atop the building, black hair rising up in gentle tufts as soft breezes periodically blew across the battlefield. He swept golden eyes across the ruins in search of Sarutobi, all of his thoughts and plans focused towards capitalizing upon this victory. With the main defenses fallen, the king – Sarutobi – was unguarded. Unfortunately, the old man's chakra signature had vanished within the mountain of chakra radiating off of the bodies, making it nearly impossible to locate him via sensory techniques.

_Must I physically search every piece of godforsaken rubble for him? _he wondered sourly after a moment. _How tedious._

"I am right here, Orochimaru," an old and gravelly voice suddenly called out.

Smirking, Orochimaru swerved his gaze to the right and spotted his old sensei standing firmly upon a particularly low mound of earth. There were scrapes and cuts galore adorning his body and armor, but his chakra pulsated steadily and healthily. The jutsu that had been cloaking the old leader's signature had apparently been dispelled.

"Oh I'm ever so glad you made it sensei!" Orochimaru exclaimed. "It would have been a mite bit embarrassing if you'd died beneath the ruins of your own jutsu…even if that jutsu was more heinous than any I've ever dreamt of."

Orochimaru licked his lips in anticipation of the misery that he was certain would now adorn his old sensei's face.

"I will not deny my crime," Sarutobi responded, somber and remorseful, "and I will not pretend that protecting the village atones for it or makes these poor souls' sacrifice meaningful. But," he fixed Orochimaru with a hard stare, "I do not regret my actions in any way whatsoever. This was needed, if only to serve as a distraction."

Sarutobi smiled abruptly and Orochimaru felt fear worm its way into his gut.

_What did the old bastard mean by "distraction"?_ he wondered warily.

The Hokage suddenly formed a Dragon hand seal and called out, "_Fuuton: Kaze ni Dasuto Senkai!_"

Dust lingering inches above the ground roared up in a great gust of wind and shot out over the area, blanketing it in a brown cloud that was impossible to see through. Orochimaru glanced around helplessly for an exit, but all that met him was a wall of murky brown vapor that flew into his nostrils and stung his eyes. He looked down at his hands, but was dismayed to find that they too had vanished into the brown mist. The grains flying at breakneck speeds within the dust cut and tore at his pale skin, digging deep into his eye sockets and eating at the tender flesh of his serpentine orb. Worse of all, the chakra-rich dust completely blocked out his senses, all but blinding him to the outside world.

Pursing his lips in annoyance, Orochimaru formed a set of hand signs from memory and then cried out, "_Fuuton: Kaze no—_"

Mass, simple and pure, suddenly crushed down upon Orochimaru without reason or cause. His back snapped backwards like a twig and his knees gave way like pudding before a boulder. The mass slammed his entire being into the hard stone of the roof top, pulverizing bone, muscle, and flesh alike. The only thing that mitigated the shock of this stunning turn of events was Orochimaru's years of experience. Even that, however, did not do enough to set his mind working towards a solution to his predicament immediately. On a positive note, the dust was no longer bothering his eyes.

_A silver lining if I ever saw/heard/thought of one! _he realized hopefully as his face was smashed further into the ground. _I'm already in a better mood!_

As if the gods themselves were listening to Orochimaru's unfailing optimism, the mass pressed further down upon his body and then abruptly leapt off. The relief that might have raced through Orochimaru's poor limbs was cut short by the sensation of an odd liquid being poured upon him.

_Is that_, Orochimaru wondered as his broken body slowly took in the scent of the liquid now oozing down his flesh, _oil? Yes, why I believe it is. And if I remember correctly, oil is flammable. Yes, flammable. Which means…_

The oil that had been resting upon Orochimaru's skin so peacefully moments earlier ignited into a raging inferno, roasting and burning his flesh into bubbles of liquid tissue. Blood rushed to the surface and was immediately dissipated, creating loud pops and snaps that made his body sound like the logs in a bonfire. All of his humor was gone, vanished with into the flames of his torment. The pain was indescribable, of course, but the fact that Orochimaru couldn't actually move made it far, far worse. The mass had pounded his body down with such force that his muscles and bones had snapped into pieces, making any motion quite impossible.

Thus, all that Orochimaru could do was lay in that accursed spot as flames bombarded his very essence and his skin boiled into vapor. To call it "painful" or "hellish"…in the most literal sense, his muscles, his flesh, his bones, and his organs – his _body_ – were being burned to cinder by a seemingly endless stream of flames. There were no words that Orochimaru could use to describe his pain. There were only the glowing petals of ash that wafted up into the air and the sweet, sweet plans for vengeance growing softly inside of his head. His body would moan and scream, but his mind was hidden away in the endless mazes of his soul eagerly waiting to take delicious vengeance upon everyone. At least, until he sensed a chakra that was incredibly familiar to him.

_Jiraiya..._

He watched his breath in the hot air as it swirled up and up into the sky. Slow and twirling, it wafted up into the sky and then disappeared completely with a gust of wind coming from the inferno roaring beneath him. Jiraiya mouthed the end of his pipe gently and then let loose another puff of smoke. Again, he watched it sail up into the sky and again it vanished with the wind. He'd never really liked pipes. That had been sensei's thing. But now, as he watched the smoke drift softly and happily into the great big blue, he could see why the old man would enjoy sitting back with one of these babies and reflecting. Reflecting on what? Anything and everything, courtesy of the "special" herbs puttering softly in the pipe's wooden bowl.

"It's not that powerful," he muttered ruefully behind the thin end of the pipe in his mouth. "If it was, this would be the greatest fight ever."

He chuckled at his own joke as he took the pipe out of his mouth and then rubbed a weary hand across his wrinkled face. There was so much to do. After the flames died down, Orochimaru would most likely retreat and then he had to help Sarutobi explain to the village why hundreds of emaciated and malformed bodies covered the streets of Konoha. They'd blame Orochimaru for it, of course. He did have a reputation for messing with dead people and there was no way in hell any civilian would believe the venerable Sandaime Hokage tampered in "dark jutsu". Of course, there was a chance that one of the civilians – or one of the ANBU fighting nearby – had seen Orochimaru break open the castle and the bodies that burst out immediately afterwards. The Interrogation Squad would take of that.

_Oh wait_, Jiraiya thought apathetically, _it's the "Department of Information Acquisition and Handling" now. Forgot that most of the squads had been expanded._

Once that little mess had been cleaned, there was the matter of the missing nin that Iwa and Kumo had hired to team up with Orochimaru. They couldn't call them out on it. That would start another war, even if said war was one that Konoha could probably win. From what Jiraiya knew of the old man's plans, he wanted to solidify Konoha's influence throughout the continent as opposed to actually conquering the other Nations. Literally seizing control of a country was nice and all, but it was extremely expensive. Plus, the devastation of the fighting would most likely take out that country's trading, leaving it economically barren for an unbearably long time. Sarutobi wanted to spread Konoha businesses and culture all across the land. Make everyone want to be a part of your country and your people, and you win.

"And then kill everyone else," Jiraiya muttered with a smile.

He placed his pipe back into his mouth and then stood up.

Tapping the tough skin of the gigantic frog he was standing upon, Jiraiya asked, "You okay to go, Gamabunta?"

"Depends," the old toad replied in a gravelly voice. "You gonna choke up?"

Jiraiya's face hardened and he bit down on his pipe with a little more force. Sarutobi had ordered him not to kill Orochimaru. That meant that he had to torture him "for as long as necessary". What was worse was that it wasn't for information. Sarutobi wanted Orochimaru at the very edge of death simply to force the snake to seek out Tsunade for healing.

_That's right_, Jiraiya thought. _The old man knows Tsunade won't come back to the village willingly. She needs to be "persuaded" and if Orochimaru tries to make Tsunade help him, she'll be much more likely to rejoin Konoha. Why Sarutobi-sensei wants that old hag back is beyond me, though. It's like he's preparing for something. But, risking letting a very pissed Orochimaru loose is something else and having me—_

A shrill and terrible scream suddenly pierced through Jiraiya's thoughts. He scowled and closed his eyes. Listening to his old teammate, a friend whom he'd fought with for countless years in mud, snow, and sleet, was by the far the worst part of this entire accursed experience. Jiraiya remembered perfectly what his two teammates looked like, sounded like, and felt like as he'd held them when they were bleeding or screaming or burning. These images and feelings were scorched into his mind and he would never forget them. Hearing that same shriek now above the flames brought those memories to the forefront of Jiraiya's mind and his heart panged horribly within his chest as a result.

"I'll be fine," he replied. "Let's start."

Jiraiya withdrew the pipe from his mouth and pressed his thumb into the bowl, extinguishing the cinders instantly. The tornado of fire vanished immediately afterwards, leaving a massive scorch mark upon the ground and the air at a temperature that caused beads of sweat to race down Jiraiya's skin. In the center of it all lay Orochimaru's blackened corpse. Despite the distance between them, Jiraiya could see that horrible visage perfectly. The skin was charred and ruined, and his former comrade's face lay open in a ghoulish scream.

"Where are you?" Jiraiya muttered.

"There," Gamabunta replied as he pointed a massive finger at spot not thirty yards away from the epicenter of the devastation.

Without fail, a white gooey mess erupted from the ground. It was covered in a disgusting film of liquid that was displayed all the more prominently as it slowly began standing up. The monstrosity swiveled its serpentine head up and glared murderously at Jiraiya. It was Orochimaru.

_I figured he'd survive_, Jiraiya thought with a grimace, _but_ _I never thought he'd have sunk to such depths. He's not even human anymore._

The placenta-like goop slid off Orochimaru smoothly, revealing him to be as healthy and mad as ever.

"Hello old friend!" Orochimaru shouted. "How goes your miserable little existence?"

"Just fine," Jiraiya replied, forcing himself to be cordial. "Winning over the ladies, drinking my way into hell…you know how it is."

From his high vantage point, Jiraiya saw Orochimaru smile.

"And Tsunade?" the snake Sennin asked.

"Gambling," he answered easily.

"Ah," Orochimaru remarked ruefully, "of course. Our dear little starlet always did like the cards."

They were silent after that, their eyes locked onto each other unflinchingly. Jiraiya was thankful for Gamabunta's patience. The old toad knew that this was something Orochimaru and he had to work out.

"What are you planning to do Jiraiya?" Orochimaru asked finally and with the slightest inflection of weariness in his voice. "We both know what will happen after this. I'll escape, plot my vengeance, and then kill you and Sarutobi individually. Alone, you two will fall before me. I'm simply too ready to use…unconventional means to win. Take now, for example. I would have gotten over our past by this point and already pressed my advantage. You simply lack the ruthlessness of a shinobi. Everyone knows it too. Tsunade, me, sensei…you don't have it in you to do what is needed. Of course," he smirked, "that's what everyone loved about you. You refused to give in to your shinobi nature. That's why they will all forever hold you dearly in their hearts and that is what I will remember you as."

"So emotional," Jiraiya retorted with a laugh. "What's come over you, old man? Getting nostalgic for the good old days?"

Orochimaru frowned and responded, "Perhaps. I have always looked upon our time together as a something to be cherished. My quest, however, led me away and so I left."

"How can you cherish our friendship, yet still be willing to kill us and everyone around you for your 'quest'?" Jiraiya asked calmly.

"My quest goes beyond you or I, Jiraiya," Orochimaru answered. "We are mere individuals, simple conduits of evolution and change that are destined to carry on life and knowledge to the future. Our feelings towards each other, however powerful, are inconsequential compared to the need for advancement, for _ascension_. Humanity is on a never-ending quest for perfection and we are doomed to be ceaselessly miserable until we achieve that perfection. Through my efforts, I will push humanity closer to perfection than it has ever been before. That is surely worthy of sacrifices, is it not?"

Jiraiya felt a heavy weight descend upon his head. There was logic behind Orochimaru's thinking, but it clashed with Jiraiya's deeply held belief that individuals could be more than mere bodies. Humans could break away from the cycle of hatred and killing. There could be a world without shinobi, in other words, and Orochimaru stood in the way of that.

_Am I any better than him? _he asked sadly. _I'm willing to sacrifice Orochimaru for my vision of the world just as he's ready to kill me for his. Which vision is right? Neither and both. _

"I'm sorry, Orochimaru," Jiraiya called out finally, "but you're wrong."

"How banal of you," Orochimaru proclaimed in annoyance. "You are simply too narrow-minded—"

"That's not what I'm talking about," he interjected coldly. "You claimed that I didn't have the ruthlessness to do what is needed. I'm saying that you're wrong."

Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise, but before anything else could be done, Jiraiya slammed his palms together and released the trap beneath Orochimaru's feet. Roots of earth and iron erupted from the ground on cue and impaled Orochimaru's slender frame on their points, leaving only his head untouched..

He tried to scream, but it was only empty air. That thick red soup flowing inside of his veins spilled out of him now, splattering the ground in splashes of crimson. He could feel the individual rivets and bumps in the spikes as they pierced his body. The smells of his insides' odors escaped through these newly made holes and stung his nostrils with their pungent essence. This was nothing to him, however. He'd endured countless forms of torture in his long life and this was nothing compared to those terrible times. No, what truly hurt and stunned him was that it was Jiraiya. Jiraiya wasn't supposed to fight for anything, hate for anything, _torture _for anything. What had happened to him?

Orochimaru's hair was suddenly wrenched up, forcing his head to follow. He immediately locked eyes with Jiraiya, who now stood mere inches away and whose hand was the one pulling his skull so painfully high into the air. Orochimaru could see great pain within those eyes, but there was also coldness.

"If you do this," Orochimaru gasped out, "you will no longer be Jiraiya."

A small smile ran across Jiraiya's face.

"I stopped being your and Tsunade's Jiraiya a long time ago," he replied.

After a moment, Jiraiya added, "I want you to know that this isn't for information or for anything Konoha wants. This is for the pain you've caused me. Don't ever forget that while I'm pushing this," he planted a kunai into Orochimaru's chest, causing the Sannin to hack up blood and spill it onto himself and Jiraiya, "into your heart. Don't ever forget that you killed your Jiraiya the day you left."

Orochimaru could only gasp for breath as walls erupted from the depths of the earth and cut him completely off from the outside world. Only Jiraiya stood with him in the darkness. Moments later, he screamed.

**A/N: **And so ends yet another chapter. I guess the only thing I feel that I should address is Orochimaru's openness with Jiraiya. I always hated how Orochimaru's motivation was never fully explained in the manga. Yes, his parents died and the death caused by the wars around him drove him to seek immortality, but why was he so villainous? I suppose Jiraiya and Orochimaru's relationship in my story is an attempt to understand this. This isn't a "Good!Orochimaru" story, because there isn't a "Good" or "Evil" in my story. What I'm trying to convey is something beyond the "Orochimaru=Bad, Kill Orochimaru" mentality espoused so bluntly in the manga (and in many FanFiction stories). Please let me know if he seems too, I don't know, emotional. I don't want to change Orochimaru's character overmuch and I still want him to be the carefree killer (not "evil" killer) that I intend for him to be. I sincerely hope I've accomplished something to that effect. Any other comments you might have about the fight and any improvements that can be mind is, as always, greatly appreciated. Finally, kudos to all of you who suggested I use Chinese as one of the ancient languages. It'll definitely come into play later on.

Thanks,

Oramo

_Tamashī no kusari_—"Soul Chain"

_Doton: Chikyū-shin no Shiro_—"Earth Release: Earth God's Castle"

_Gisōhebi_—"Camouflaged Snake"

_Kuchiyose: Jisatsu wa Edo Tensei_—"Summoning: Suicide, Impure World Resurrection"

_Kuchiyose: Entō-gataRashōmon_—"Summoning: Cylindrical Rashōmon"

_Yame saseru!_—"Fire!"

_Fukkatsu: Hi no Zen'nō no Ryū_—"Resurrection: Almighty Dragon of Fire"

_Katon: Karyūdan no Jutsu_—"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet Jutsu"

_Osou!_—"Attack!"

_Shinkirō no Ryū_—"Dragon of the Mirage"

_Shīchuán_—Chinese for "Lost Arts"

_Katon: Kyodai Karyūdan no Jutsu_—"Fire Release: Massive Fire Dragon Bullet Jutsu"

_Fuuton: Kaze ni Dasuto Senkai_—"Wind Release: Swirling Dust in the Wind"

_Jinsei no Yōki_ —"Containers of Life"


	20. Aftermath

**A/N****: **Hey everyone, Chapter 20 is now up. Honestly, I am stunned by the amount of positive reviews and constructive criticism that all of you have given me and I'm eternally grateful for them. You keep me going and you've already improved my writing so much.

I've created a small portion of political history for my story and I want to see if it fits. In my story, the Five Nations are referred to as Nations (capital "N") or "Great/Mighty Nations". For example, one would refer to Konoha as "Great/Mighty Konoha" and the Land of Fire as the "Great/Mighty Nation of Fire" when speaking formally. Again, this rule applies to all of the Five Nations. Those lands and Hidden Villages that are not a part of the Five Nations, however, are referred to as Countries or "Subsidiary Nations". It is generally considered appropriate to refer to a Country by its title when speaking formally (e.g. the "Country of Bears"), but a member of the Five Nations can comfortably refer to a Country in the case of the Country of Bears as "Bear". Or, one can refer to a Hidden Village such as Hoshigakure in formal conversation as "Hoshi" without fear of being rude. This applies to Japanese as well. Konoha and Fire Country are referred to as "_Subarashii Konohagakure no Sato_" and "_Hi no Subarashii Kuni_" respectively, which mean "The Mighty Village Hidden among the Tree Leaves" and "The Mighty Nation of Fire" respectively. The "Subarashii" signifies that they are greater than a Country. On the other hand, a Subsidiary Nation and lesser Hidden Village would simply be referred to in the normal fashion, such as "Kuma no Kuni" for the Country of Bears and "Hoshigakure no Sato" for the Village Hidden among the Stars.

I've tinkered with the language of the continent as well. I believe that each village would have different, yet similar, dialects due to the large geographical distances between them. As a result, I've made a variation of Japanese as the dialect for Konoha (and different variations of it as the dialects for other Nations). These dialects are never used when speaking to foreigners. A universal dialect is spoken instead. Due to the rapidly growing amount of interaction and communication between the different Nations and Countries, this universal dialect is becoming increasingly more common.

I've changed the role of the Konoha Council from its canon definition (in canon, it actually only consists of Homura and Koharu, Sarutobi's old teammates). Also, the bonds between Konoha, Suna, and Kiri are also much stronger due to their recent war together.

Finally, Hidden Villages and the Nations/Countries within which they reside are, for the most part, considered to be one entity. This means that the Nation as a whole is either controlled by the Hidden Village or by the government of the daimyo. In the case of Konohagakure, the Konoha government and the Hokage have most of the power due to their success in the last War. On the other hand, the daimyo has more control over the Great Nation of Wind than does Sunagakure, as evidenced by the ease with which funds to Suna can be cut off. However, Sunagakure's success during the War has given it a little more clout with the people than it used to have.

I know this is unnecessarily complex and confusing, but I can't help myself :P.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 20 of _Naze?_, titled, "Yoha".

* * *

Yoha

_Konoha Council Hall, One Day after Invasion – 11:43 AM_

Majestic robes and exotic fragrances bombarded his senses. By merely glancing into the array of colors raging before him, Sarutobi found himself slightly dazed. Bustling, shouting, and oozing in a swaying mass, the throng declared its presence utterly and irrefutably. It was an entity made of voices, of heaving bodies and thin pieces of parchment waving through the air like the small streams of light peeking through the windows Sarutobi's own office.

"My Lord Hokage," his aide muttered respectively and with due veneration, "perhaps it would be wise to begin addressing the delegates'concerns?"

Sarutobi puffed his pipe wearily, the warm scent of smoke erasing the weight that was slowly sinking upon his old head. The grey cloud had the effect of obscuring his vision of the shouting delegates and commanders, causing him to smile. With a casual breath from his aide, however, the smoke vanished.

He sighed and held up his hand.

The aide immediately about-faced towards the mob and shouted in a voice amplified by chakra, "Silence! The Council will now hold session!"

The words echoed throughout the massive hall, spreading to every delegate stationed within the great hall. This Council room was a portrait of fine wood and regal airs. Its members, akin to the nobles in the daimyo's court, were seated on benches raised far above the mess of people below. These Council seats spread out around the circumference of the massive room in a horseshoe pattern, leaving the center of the room bare for any who wished to address the Council and/or the Hokage. The Hokage himself sat upon an ornate seat at the end of the horseshoe surrounded by aides and advisors.

The center of the room, dubbed secretly by many Council members as the _Minshū no Saibansho_, contained a variety of items depending on who was using it. In this case, there was a podium in the center, along with a dozen or so tables that lined the edges. Each table was marked with a flag which held the symbol of different Nations and Subsidiary Nations and they were large enough for multiple delegates to gather around in order to make last minute adjustments to their arguments. At the head of each table sat the _shuseki daihyō_, who was the chief representative of a Nation that was authorized to speak for the Kage of that Nation. In the case of Subsidiary Nations who had no Kage, they almost always deferred to the _daihyō _of the Nation that, to put it bluntly, owned them. As a result of the war, therefore, many of the Subsidiary Nations obeyed the diplomatic wishes of Sarutobi or, in the case of Sarutobi's absence, Konoha's _shuseki daihyō_.

As the aide's voice faded into the walls, the room quieted. The diverse skin and décor of the crowd now faced Sarutobi and his Council, but the pace at which it did so was slower than one would expect of those in the presence of a Kage. Sarutobi ignored it and nodded to Danzo, who sat to his far left in the midst of the non-Clan Council members. This largest of Council factions was marked by a white flag with a red flame in its center. It was held high above them on a pedestal, signifying to all the allegiance of those who stood beneath it.

It was in this manner that all of the factions in Konoha's Council were distinguished from one another. The Hyuuga, with a flag of purest white, the Nara, a flag of forest green and their clan symbol subtly weaved into the banner's upper right corner, the Akimichi, with a dim red banner and their clan symbol displayed prominently across the cloth, and so on. All Clans and factions who had been deemed worthy to have a voice in Konoha's Council were present now. Save for one, of course.

Ever since the Uchiha Massacre, an irreplaceable void had been left in both the Council and the military. Worse of all, however, the morale of the populace had been crushed. To the people, the Uchiha had represented Konoha's strength and power. Indeed, their presence had been felt everywhere in the form of the Konoha Military Police Force. But, their talk of rebellion and coup d'état had been too real a prospect for Sarutobi to ignore. Forever would he hate himself for ordering the massacre of the Uchiha Clan on the night when all of its members had returned to celebrate one of their few festivals. It had needed to be done, he knew, but that did not stop his heart from breaking over the deaths of the many families whom Itachi had been forced to slaughter. Thus, he had ordered the Uchiha flag to be flown atop the Hokage Tower right beneath Konoha's own flag as a sign of respect and, unbeknownst to all save for Danzo and Sarutobi's old teammates, guilt.

"We will now address the concerns of all present," Danzo suddenly declared, awakening Sarutobi from his reverie. "So begins the 47th Assembly of the Five Nations and all Subsidiary Nations. If it will please the Assembly, Iwa representative Koishi Yawarakai, standing in for the Tsuchikage, will take the floor."

If any opposed such a notion, they were cowed by Danzo's fierce visage. It pleased Sarutobi immensely that he had someone like Danzo on his side. The man was a war hawk through and through, and he was more than capable of taking the heat for some of Sarutobi's more radical proposals. He also served as an excellent liaison between Sarutobi and the rabid mob before him. Where Sarutobi had genius and political tact, Danzo had the ferocity and will to bend the rabble to his will. Together, they had been able to eliminate much of the bickering that arose in Konoha's Council, causing many new Acts to be passed into law.

Of course, one of the flaws of having a powerful executive figure such as the Hokage was that the government depended greatly upon the competency of the executive. If the executive was a fool, the country as a whole suffered. It was for this reason that Sarutobi brought in experts to identify flaws in any new Acts or plans he was considering putting into motion. An excellent example of this would be the specialist he summoned during the Chuunin Exams: Jiraiya.

_He seemed to approve of my newest idea_, Sarutobi thought as the chief Iwa delegate stepped up to the podium in the center of the room. _But, will he have what it takes to follow through with it?_

"I thank the mighty Council of Konoha and its venerable Hokage for allowing me to speak today," Yawarakai began, his slim build and handsome face complimenting the rising and falling of his voice beautifully. "Ever since the war's end, we have all made efforts to demonstrate how friendship and peace should dictate our actions, not hatred and selfish warmongering. For the powerful Konoha to do its utmost to protect our beloved genin is proof of that. There will never be another as noble and just as those before us, who sheltered their former enemies' future from harm. For that, I give you my sincerest thanks on behalf of the village of Iwagakure. However," his voice, a rich tide of emotion, suddenly darkened, "we are dismayed to think that Konoha would steep so low as to conceal our treasured students from us. What is the need for such secrecy? The threat has passed and the enemy is vanquished. Where, my Lord Hokage, are the youth we gave to _your _care? And, if I may be so bold to ask, how is it that such a strong village as Konoha was able to be breached by missing-nin in the first place, when not even trained shinobi could venture within miles of these grand walls?"

"The competency of your warriors is your business," a Konoha councilor retorted, earning the laughter of her peers and those of the crowd below.

Yawarakai smiled thinly and waited for the laughter to die away.

"True enough," he continued finally, "but we all know that a ninja of the Five Nations is far more skilled than a dozen of the rabble that attacked yesterday. Again, I beg the Council: where are our genin and how was that undisciplined horde able to journey so far into the forest, let alone actually penetrate the walls and attack Konoha directly?"

"If you remember correctly," a small, yet fierce-looking Kiri delegate interjected in a gruff voice, "the first reports given to us this morning stated that the missing nin were former warriors of the Five Nations, _shin no heishi_ of high rank. Therefore, your question of how such 'rabble' came so close to Konoha is irrelevant. Such shinobi, experienced from years of service and hardened from the missing-nin life, should have made it that far.

"And if the Council will remember, none of them ever actually breached the walls. The only one who did was Orochimaru and even then it was only through the most heinous of deceptions that had nothing to do with the efficiency of Konoha's defenses. If anything, the fact that they were able to capture that _snake_ and respond so quickly speaks volumes of their ability to defend their village and protect our youth during such a momentous occasion. They were handed a crisis as horrible as could be conceived and they met it without fail."

"I completely agree," Yawarakai replied, the smile widening on his handsome face. "Konoha handled the problem beautifully and there were virtually no meaningful casualties to speak of on our side. However, whether a missing nin army or Orochimaru, Konoha was still breached and we can't hope that this magnificent village will be able to hold off another, less obvious attack. Of course, Konoha seemed to know exactly what the enemy was planning this time, so perhaps we _can _rely on them."

Several council members and many of Konoha's allies in the crowd rose up in fury at Yawarakai's thinly veiled accusation, but Sarutobi was instead focused on how undaunted Yawarakai looked by the crowd's reaction. What was he planning?

"Silence!" Danzo barked out. "We will have order!"

The crowd ceased their shouting immediately. Danzo's reputation was powerful indeed if it could quell such a crowd, Sarutobi thought.

His gaze focused and his jaw set, Danzo turned to Yawarakai and asked impassively, "My respected delegate, am I to understand that you are suggesting Konoha was involved in the attack on its _own _city?"

Yawarakai laughed heartily and replied, "Of course not, my lord Danzo! That would be most foolish of me. No, I am merely remarking upon the likelihood of a double agent within Konoha's midst."

The shouting recommenced immediately, causing Sarutobi to frown. Was it really necessary to go through this charade? The Tsuchikage must have figured out that Konoha spies had noticed the correspondence between missing nin leaders in the Land of Fire and Iwa and Kumo military officials. Besides that, Iwa and Kumo were the likeliest of any of Konoha's enemies to attack them in such a manner. Why then was the old Kage directing his ambassadors to lead the discussion around in a pointless cycle of bickering?

_To bide time_, Sarutobi thought immediately, _or to place the blame onto someone else, such as—_

"Yakushi Kabuto," Yawarakai declared.

The delegates stared at Yawarakai in confusion, something that Sarutobi found himself sharing in. Yakushi Kabuto was a Konoha genin who'd tried his hand at the Chuunin Exams several times, including this year. If memory served, he'd never gotten to the Finals. Could he truly be a spy?

"Amongst the many missing nin captured by the small contingency of my Nation's shinobi," he elaborated, "we found a young man by the name of Yakushi Kabuto."

"What are you babbling about?" an elderly medic nin councilor interrupted angrily. "Yakushi Kabuto is my son and a member of the Konoha Medical Corps! If anything, he was attempting to heal his comrades!"

"We thought the same thing," Yawarakai replied smoothly, "until we found several documents detailing Konoha troop movements in young Kabuto's pockets."

He snapped his fingers and an aide rushed to his side carrying a stack of papers bound in tight red string. Wrapping his elegant hands around the leaflets, he held them up high into the air.

"These are the documents confiscated by our troops," he continued. "I assure you that we have not looked at them. It is our hypothesis that young Kabuto was attempting to play both sides by giving away information…at a price, of course. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that he fooled the missing nin into thinking that he was one of them and it's highly conceivable that the Konoha officials whom he talked to thought that he was merely a scout assigned to spy upon the enemy's movements."

Whispers broke out throughout the entirety of the room, while Kabuto's father went pale and collapsed into his seat. Sarutobi felt his own heart chill at Yawarakai's words. For a spy to have infiltrated Konoha and have impersonated a genin was an embarrassment of the highest order, especially if it had resulted in a large-scale invasion of the city.

_So that's their plan_, Sarutobi thought with a sigh. _Iwa and Kumo were actually expecting the invasion to work. When it didn't, they must have assumed that Orochimaru had double-crossed them. Now, they're double-crossing him by selling out someone who appears to be one of his spies. It also serves to solidify Iwa's allegiance to Konoha. Then…Kumo will most likely seek to do the same, perhaps by addressing the issue of the impersonation of the Kazekage. Doing this would simultaneously attack Suna's competency and take Kumo out of the spotlight. By helping us punish those responsible for the attack, Iwa and Kumo are actually weakening us more than that invasion ever would have._

Sarutobi puffed his pipe thoughtfully, allowing his mind to wander with the clouds of smoke that slowly climbed out of the wooden bowl and into the liberating air. Finally, he tapped his nearest aide-de-camp with a single finger.

"The Hokage will now speak!" the aide shouted.

The room silenced once again and all eyes turned onto Sarutobi. Sarutobi removed his pipe and stared into the crowd with eyes focused and calm.

"On behalf of Konoha," Sarutobi began, "I extend my sincerest thanks to Iwa for capturing this traitor before he could do any more damage. But, it comes to my attention that the original question has been left unanswered. The genin of _all _Nations, Konoha included, are being safely held in a place that none save myself and my generals know of. For the sake of national security, I cannot reveal its location to you. I can assure you, however, that all genin will be released within the next several hours as soon as it is ascertained that none of them were meant to play a part in the Invasion."

The crowd below rose up, mouths open to shout their disapproval. Sarutobi held his left hand in the air, with the middle finger extended slightly higher than the index, and invoked his power as Hokage to silence everyone. All in the room did as he commanded, some more reluctantly than others.

"This decision will not be contested," Sarutobi stated. "I am the Hokage and all within my domain will abide by the laws that this Council and I have created in order to ensure the protection of ourselves and the people. A majority of both this Council and the _Minshū no Saibansho _agrees with me, which means that only another Kage can contest my decision. Unless you can summon one to this Council Room between now and the time allotted for the release of the Genin, there is no reason to continue this discussion. Therefore, I motion to invoke cloture to end any further debate on this matter and recess to allow us all a rest from this ugly business. We will return within an hour and a half. All in favor?"

The leaders of the Council factions who approved of the measure stood up and bowed to the Hokage. Sarutobi was thankful for this. While this opening session had been rather short in comparison to those in the past, Sarutobi knew that a new strategy needed to be formed to counteract Iwa's news concerning Yakushi Kabuto.

Sarutobi watched on as Danzo took count of the faction leaders. For as long as Sarutobi could remember, both a majority of the Council and the Hokage needed to agree on a motion or an Act for it to be passed. If this was done, then a majority of faction leaders in the _Minshū no Saibansho _needed to agree as well. Sarutobi, however, had not wanted to use his power as Hokage to force the issue off the table. While it had effectively halted Yawarakai's momentum, Sarutobi had no doubt that it would embitter the delegates against him.

"The Council approves of the motion to recess, as well as the motion to invoke cloture on the debate concerning the whereabouts of the genin," Danzo proclaimed finally.

Sarutobi put his thoughts to rest and turned to the _Minshū no Saibansho_. He watched as the leaders of the delegates from Kiri and other Lesser Nations that were under Konoha's influence stood up to support the motion. Several other leaders stood up as well, including the leader of the delegates from the Land of Iron.

When all were accounted for and it was clear that both the motion and the cloture had enough votes to pass, Sarutobi's aide stood at attention and shouted, "Cloture has been invoked by the Hokage. None here are fit to contest this decision. Thus, discussion concerning the release of genin within Konoha has been ended. The conclusion reached is that all genin will be returned within the time needed to verify the loyalty of said genin. The motion to call recess has also been passed. Recess will now be called. Council will resume in one hour and thirty minutes."

The aide bowed to the congregation and returned to kneeling by Sarutobi's side. Excited conversations roared up within the Council Room immediately, filling the area with their buzz. Many of the delegates and Council members began exiting the room as they engaged in these animated discussions, including the Iwa delegate who had spoken earlier. Despite Sarutobi's small victory, the man had retained his composure. Sarutobi had no doubt, however, that he and every other delegate in the _Minshū no Saibansho _would hurriedly begin preparing for the next session, even as they reposed in the finer quarters of the Council Hall.

"Would you like me to ask the Stone and Frost Country delegates to suggest in the next session that we not punish Suna?" Danzo asked, tearing Sarutobi away from his thoughts.

The old war hawk had found some way to make it to Sarutobi's throne in record time, despite the surge of people going in the opposite direction.

Glancing up at his old teammate cheerfully, Sarutobi replied, "I'd be very happy if you did. Remember to be gentle."

Danzo smiled, bowed, and began hobbling away after the delegates. Sarutobi had no doubt that Danzo would convince the delegates to do their bidding. Konoha technically owned Stone and Frost, along with all of their neighbors. Because Stone bordered Iwa and Frost bordered Kumo, it was paramount that Konoha maintained a troop presence along the Countries' borders in case either Kumo or Iwa needed to be invaded. As a result, the only military force allowed in Frost and Stone was Konoha's.

A small breath of wind upon his right cheek wakened Sarutobi from his reverie. It was one of his aides and he appeared to have news from Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya-sama desires to speak with my Lord Hokage," the aide stated respectfully. "Despite my protestations, Jiraiya-sama will be waiting in my Lord's office."

Sarutobi sighed and dismissed the aide with a wave. What did Jiraiya want to talk about?

* * *

_Office of the Hokage, One Day after Invasion_

"How is he?" Sarutobi asked.

Jiraiya looked haggard and worn. For the first time, Sarutobi saw him as the fifty-year-old man he was, instead of the overgrown boy that had always managed to light up every room he entered.

"Orochimaru will live," Jiraiya answered softly. "I'm sure he has some trick to keep his blood pumping. If he still uses blood."

Jiraiya let out a barking, tired laugh. Sarutobi's brow furrowed and he fixed a sympathetic gaze onto his student's wretched frame.

"If ever you feel it's too much…" he began.

Jiraiya flinched and glared at him.

"I'm fine," he replied.

"You won't have to do this much longer," Sarutobi persisted. "Very soon, we'll need him to lure Tsunade back to us. And then...you know as well as I what that could mean for Konoha."

Jiraiya glared at the air and then asked with thinly veiled sarcasm, "Do you think it's sad that we have to send one of our most hated enemies to attack Tsunade in order to get her to come back? Or that we need him to fight our battles for us?"

Sarutobi faltered at this.

"We need to do this, Jiraiya," he answered quickly. "It is tragic to be true, but—"

"How's Naruto doing?" Jiraiya interrupted, though his voice was a little softer.

He gazed into Jiraiya, probing desperately for any hints as to how he could heal him. There was only a flicker, a small whit of a flame of hope that had bright yellow hair, eyes bluer than the seas, and a smile that dimmed the sun in its glory.

"He's fine," Sarutobi replied. "We've got our best doctors helping him recover."

For the first time since he'd entered the room, a smile – a shadow of its usual cheer, but a hopeful sign nonetheless – crept onto Jiraiya's face. Sarutobi recognized the significance of this easily. Jiraiya was vital if Sarutobi's plans were to succeed, but he was no good in his current state. Perhaps Naruto could help heal him.

"He saved many lives by taking down Gaara," Sarutobi continued. "You should be proud."

Jiraiya snorted in disbelief.

"Why?" he wondered aloud. "I didn't train him or anything."

"But you did train his father," Sarutobi countered cautiously, "and as I look upon that boy, I see only Minato's greatness within him. Greatness, mind you, that would never have come to fruition had it not been for the legendary Jiraiya."

Jiraiya fixed Sarutobi with a hard stare. Sarutobi, however, became ever more confident. This was because Jiraiya's eyes were no longer empty as they had been. They were very much alive and full of the ferocity and drive that had made Jiraiya into the legend he was today.

"I know what you'll have to become to continue this business with Orochimaru," Sarutobi went on, "but you mustn't let it consume you. Too many people are depending on you to be as you always have been."

"And what do I get in return, old man?" Jiraiya demanded. "What have the people of this village ever done for me? They did nothing to help Orochimaru stay in Konoha. They pushed Tsunade into drunkenness and dishonor. They let Minato, the one person who made me feel as if my life was worth something, die. And then…and then they cursed my godson, ignored him, hated him, and praised the gods when he was killed defending them and one of their blessed prodigies. I agreed to do this to Orochimaru for you, old man, but why the hell would I do anything more for these cowards and bigots?"

Sarutobi had an answer readymade.

"Then do not do it for Konoha," he replied. "Do it for Naruto, the only thing left of Minato in this world. Become the man that made Minato into everything he was and bring out Naruto's full potential. Your life still has meaning. You still have people who need you, who care about you, and who would be crushed if you fell into bitterness and despair."

Jiraiya's eyes widened.

Reaching his old hand over his desk and placing it on Jiraiya's beleaguered shoulder, Sarutobi continued in a whisper, "There is still purpose for you here, Jiraiya. Naruto can be the one whom the Toad Sage spoke of. He can bring peace to the continent and the world along with it. But he cannot do it alone. Endure this, my dear student. Endure so that we all may find peace from this never-ending conflict."

"How could that sociopath bring peace?" Jiraiya asked in a small and helpless voice. "Sure he stopped Gaara, but not for Konoha and not to save innocent lives. Hell, we don't even know why he's here…I couldn't help him when he was at his lowest and I can't help him now. It's too late—"

"Never is it too late!" Sarutobi interjected. "You can bring Naruto back. You can help him find himself once more, so that he can bring about oour dream!"

"I don't know," Jiraiya muttered under his breath. "I…I just don't know…"

* * *

_Council Hall, One Day after Invasion – 1:36 PM_

"The 47th Assembly of the Five Nations and all Subsidiary Nations will now recommence!" Sarutobi's aide-de-camp shouted amidst the clamor of the delegates and Council members. "All delegates are called to the floor! All delegates are called to the floor!"

Sarutobi winced and then wearily rubbed his old head. He was sitting once again upon his "throne" in preparation for yet another round of debating. Yet, anxious thoughts over Jiraiya and his misery tormented Sarutobi like a cruel specter. How he wished he'd extended the recess…

The room seemed to shake as more and more representatives flooded into the room, all of them glowing with energy fueled by the addictive power of politics. Sarutobi turned away from the mass of dignitaries and scanned the Council platforms for Danzo. Without fail, the old war hawk appeared by his side within moments. The look on his scarred and torn face spoke only of good tidings.

"Frost and Stone have agreed to defend Suna," Danzo said.

The numerous scars lining Danzo's face crinkled upwards into a hundred different smiles. Sarutobi smirked at the thought.

"Better yet," Danzo continued, "the Hyuuga have come up with a plan to counteract this Yakushi business."

"What is it?" Sarutobi asked.

The fingers of Danzo's injured left arm twitched.

"Execute Yakushi Kabuto," he answered, "and then do nothing."

Sarutobi frowned and replied, "That's quite bold. My greatest worry if we adopt that strategy is, of course, that our reputation will suffer."

"By executing Kabuto," Danzo countered, "we demonstrate that we have zero tolerance for treachery. After that, all that is left to do is to examine what caused Kabuto's betrayal and then work to make sure that none follow in his footsteps. Anything more will do little to save our reputation, if not worsen it altogether."

_It's probably the safest route_, Sarutobi thought. _After all, attempting to curb a possibly negative outcome more often than not leads to that very outcome._

"So be it," Sarutobi stated. "Make this the first issue to be discussed. I want to see how this Yawarakai fellow reacts."

Danzo bowed and headed back into the throng of Council members streaming in to take their seats. Sarutobi turned his attention down into the _Minshū no Saibansho_ to find Yawarakai, whom Sarutobi knew to be the head Iwa delegate given that he had the power to actually speak for the Tsuchikage. The lad's charismatic face and confident smile stood out immediately. Running his old eyes over the boy's every feature, Sarutobi pondered how best to break him.

For years beyond counting, Sarutobi had always paid close attention to the politically savvy. Both the Shodaime and Nidaime had taught him to be aware of all possible threats, especially in the political arena. Yawarakai was surely one of these dangerous entities. Bright, young, and attuned to the whims of the mob, he had the potential to make great gains for Iwa diplomatically. Staring into the throng of excited delegates surrounding the boy, however, Sarutobi could not help but feel that many of the Countries would attach themselves to him more out of spite of Konoha's power and less out of attraction to the boy's natural charm.

"We will now recommence the debate!"

Sarutobi blinked. Before him were nearly a hundred individuals of different races and nationalities, all of them striving for victory out of a lust for fame, riches, power, or the praise and love of those that they cared for. They were probably as burdened by grief and guilt as Jiraiya. They just didn't know it.

"Are all of us humans the same?" Sarutobi wondered softly without care for the surprised look of the aide nearest to him. "Do we all strive aimlessly forward toward some dream, despite being weighed down to the very bowels of the earth by the impossibility of that dream? Are we doomed like Jiraiya to despair as we realize that all whom we love are but mounds of fallible flesh and bone?"

The aide looked as if to answer, a vain and amusing attempt, but Sarutobi waved his hand dismissively. Instead, he gripped the handles of his throne tight and firm and allowed the ambience of the mob to wash him away.

* * *

_One hour later_

"And so, I demand that this delegation investigate Suna for conspiring with that abomination Orochimaru and punish them accordingly!"

Many cheers met the words of the fiery young Kumo delegate, who appeared to be an ally of some measure to Yawarakai judging by the close discussion Danzo reported witnessing between the two earlier during the recess.

Sarutobi was abruptly drawn away by the sound of a rather potent insult sent from one of the lesser delegates in the _Minshū_ to a Suna delegate some distance away. In fact, Sarutobi realized, the entire Council Room buzzed with these jeers, all of which were directed towards those few Suna delegates attending the meeting. Apparently, the support that Frost and Stone had given hadn't done much good. It appeared that he would have to take matters into his own hands.

"Tell Danzo that we are ready to begin," Sarutobi commanded one of his aides.

The aide nodded and disappeared in a blur. When Sarutobi saw that she had reached Danzo and informed him of the order, Sarutobi held up his hand.

"The Hokage will speak!" another of his aides shouted.

The room silenced immediately and Sarutobi began.

"It is clear to me that many of you wish to confront our Suna allies," he stated calmly. "I will tell you now that this is unnecessary. Of the fifty shinobi that fought by Orochimaru's side, none of them were actual Suna shinobi. This I know from the battle that I waged against him not a day earlier. Of the thirty Suna delegates that entered Konoha at the beginning of the Exams, only four were actually from Suna. These four, who sit among you and whom you mock and torment, informed us that they joined the Kazekage's group well after he had crossed over the Fukai Pass. We recently sent a team to the area to investigate and I have no doubt that they will discover the bodies of the real Kazekage and his bodyguards.

"If this proves to be correct, then it is safe to assume that Orochimaru ambushed the Kazekage with superior numbers and, upon killing him, took on his appearance and entered Konoha with the intent of attacking our city from within. Therefore, the only part that Suna played in the death of its Kazekage was not sending enough troops to protect him. For that, I feel that it is proper to offer condolences to our friends, not blame."

The room was silent save for a soft current of whispers. Sarutobi ran keen eyes over the collection of individuals before him. His position as Kage currently gave him control over the debate, but he had already pushed well past his level of comfort. Judging by the way many of the delegates in the _Minshū _were beginning to situate themselves next to Yawarakai and whisper to him conspiratorially, Sarutobi's feelings that he had already reached the limits of his authority seemed to be accurate. If he was forced to manipulate the discussion again, he had no doubt that he would meet strong opposition.

As if on cue, Yawarakai suddenly stood up and held up the index and middle fingers of his right hand. He was asking Sarutobi directly for the right to speak.

_Intriguing,_ Sarutobi thought._ Does he think I will refuse him? Perhaps he hopes I will. Yes, that would most assuredly turn the delegates against me and plant them solely in his corner. But what makes him think I would commit such a foolish error? My reputation surely can't be that—ah, I see! He is young and still inexperienced. He believes that he obtained a small victory by revealing Kabuto and that I will have been scared into becoming angry. I will have to educate him. It will be interesting to see what his counterattack is._

Sarutobi gently waved his right handto the side, signaling that Yawarakai was allowed to speak. He watched intently as Yawarakai's eyes widened ever so slightly, before quickly becoming cordial and polite.

"My Lord Hokage," Yawarakai began, "your words are kind and speak only of the holiness of your character. However, action must be taken. As you yourself pointed out, Suna is at fault. Whether it was villainy or incompetence that allowed the real Kazekage to be killed, Suna nevertheless must be made to understand how grave the situation is."

"I believe we are already well aware of that!" Mōretsuna Sunaarashi, a Suna delegate, retorted.

"Indeed you may be," Yawarakai countered, "but I doubt that without proper punishment you will not learn."

Sarutobi closed his eyes in exasperation. Sunaarashi would take the bait and Suna would be alienated even further. Unless—

"How dare you speak of the great Sunagakure as if it were a child, _boy_!" Sunaarashi screamed. "We grieve for the loss of our beloved Kazekage and our brethren who stood at his side, yet you see fit to mock us! Perhaps you have already forgotten how you fared in the war? We would be most anxious to remind yo—"

"Silence!" Sarutobi barked.

This was perfect. Sarutobi could taste a familiar rage settling over the congregation, roaring and growling like a monstrous demon. The possibility of hostilities was suddenly a very real prospect and Yawarakai's goading was to blame.

"Sunaarashi," Sarutobi began, his voice one that he had used countless times in battle, "hold your tongue lest you choke on its idiocy. Yawarakai, it is far too soon after this tragedy for us to even consider punishing one of our own allies. All of us will need to be at full strength to combat whatever villainy Orochimaru has plotted to bring down upon the civilized world. Do you not agree?"

"Of course, but—"

"Then this debate is over," Sarutobi uttered, cutting Yawarakai off. "I have already laid aside funds to begin the rebuilding process. Any help from our friends would be greatly appreciated. As for the results of the Chuunin Exams, that is a matter still up for discussion. We could vote to continue the Exams, but I feel that this would distract us from the most important task at hand, which is that justice that must be done against those who aided Orochimaru in this heinous attack. None of whom, I may add, sit in this room with us today."

Sarutobi chuckled inwardly. Sunaarashi's temper had forced Yawarakai to directly insult Suna, thus making it seem warmongering. War was the last thing any Nation wanted, even Iwa and Kumo. By drawing Yawarakai into an argument that even hinted at war, Sunaarashi had accidentally delegitimized Yawarakai. This gave Sarutobi the ability to make one more push and to introduce the idea of a hidden entity working to undo all Nations and Countries.

"What 'villainy' is it that you speak of?" an older delegate asked. "You mentioned, my Lord Hokage, that Orochimaru might have been plotting something greater than this single invasion, which means you've already squeezed some information out of the wretch. If you're interrogating the snake and have found something, we all must be involved!"

"Orochimaru is a missing nin from our village," Sarutobi retorted, putting the slightest inflection of anger into his voice. "He has done more harm to this village than any of you could possibly imagine. Surely none here would deprive us of this chance to punish such a man? The Council and I are, however, more than willing to share all information that we gather from Orochimaru with you. The actual process of interrogation, however, is something I beg you to leave to us."

"Of course," another delegate persisted, "but what information have you obtained? What could possibly halt this hate-filled dialogue?"

Sarutobi noted that the delegate was from Suna. This was good, because it meant that the four Suna delegates had some idea of what Sarutobi was trying to do.

"Your wisdom is unmatched, my dear delegate," Sarutobi responded. "Few would ever consider questioning a lord of status akin to mine, yet none of you dare to fall into this dangerous line of thinking. Together and unified, you hold more power than I ever could and none see that better than I. So, as a humble servant of my people, I respectfully grant all of you the right to every piece of information that we acquire."

Sarutobi snapped his fingers and a scroll of average size popped into existence. It fell into his other hand, whereupon he handed it to one of his aides. The scroll was fake, of course, and it was not a unique creation. There were many such scrolls stored within Konoha's Department of Information Acquisition and Handling, all of them written in a vague language that could describe any number of things. Sarutobi had hoped not to use such a device, for the consequences of the lie being discovered would be grave indeed. Yet, Sarutobi could see that it was now necessary if he was to distract the delegates. Furthermore, he saw the worried expressions that crossed the faces of Yawarakai and his Kumo allies. He knew they were terrifed that Orochimaru would reveal their involvement. They would jump at the chance to place all blame for the invasion onto some foreign and monstrous enemy that was in no way related to themselves. Even if the scroll was too vague, their support would end this debate completely.

"This is what we have gathered from Orochimaru thus far," Sarutobi proclaimed. "My aide will present this before you all for your perusal, but I can save you much time. Orochimaru has admitted to being a part of a massive coalition of missing nin whose sole goal is the destruction of, and I quote, 'the disgusting sentimentality and weakness of the civilized world'. I believe something of that sort appears on the scroll."

This was also complete fabrication. It was a phrase created by the Nidaime Hokage based on his interactions with different missing-nin over the years. The Nidaime had been the one who'd created these fake scrolls and he'd included the phrase in one manner or another on every one of them in order to draw eyes away from the unclear language concerning "missing-nin coalitions" and "suspicious movements in such-and-such".

Of course, Sarutobi knew that Orochimaru found the very idea of a "civilized" world to be disdainful, but not because it was sentimental. Quite the opposite, in fact. Even before going rogue, Sarutobi remembered how Orochimaru would often discuss with him at length the flaws of society's current model and how it sacrificed the needs of the many for those of the few. Sarutobi doubted that Orochimaru actually cared about the "many", but he would go so far as to say that the snake Sennin found society to be inefficient and exasperatingly stupid.

That wouldn't raise the other Nations into a righteous fury, however. No, Sarutobi needed a cliché, a phrase that any villain could be imagined saying. Judging by the angry, vengeful, and slightly fearful expressions marking the faces of the delegates, what the Nidaime had come up with appeared to have worked.

"Can we not agree then," Sarutobi continued, "that there is a much greater threat to our _collective_ national security than each other? There are many powerful missing nin in the world. If they ever united, we could all be in grave danger."

The shift in favor from Yawarakai to Sarutobi was apparent. Delegates immediately began chastising those who had sought to deny Konoha the right to Orochimaru and any further discussion on the matter of punishing Suna was temporarily laid to rest due to its new association with warmongering. Again, the Council Room buzzed and thronged with noise and motion, making the mass of delegates within the _Minshū no Saibansho _appear to be a great beast worming and roaring about.

Within that beast stood a motionless Yawarakai, whose amber eyes restlessly searched for a way to turn the debate back in his favor. He started and glanced up at Sarutobi, showing his youth for the first time. Sarutobi fixed him with a stare that dared the young lad to even whisper a protest. To Sarutobi's immense relief, Yawarakai received the message and wisely retreated by bowing respectfully and humbly returning to his seat.

Sarutobi had secretly hoped that this defeat would help the boy understand when to take a tactical withdrawal. No longer did Sarutobi wish to break Yawarakai. Of course he could push harder and use Yawarakai as an outlet to expose Iwa and Kumo's treachery. Such a move would inevitably lead to war, which would be very long and arduous. Nevertheless, Konoha would most likely win and, after much rebuilding, prosper. Yawarakai would be destroyed along with Iwa and Kumo, eliminating the threat of his growth permanently and Konoha would dominate the continent. Yet, Sarutobi did not want war because it would cost the lives of many of Konoha's shinobi and it could push Konoha into a terrible debt. Furthermore, the idea of ruining the career of one so young and gifted, no matter how dangerous he could prove in the future, sent countless thoughts through his old brain of the students he had taught throughout the years. Like Orochimaru.

_I'll never be a mentor to this boy_, Sarutobi thought as the excitement and chatter in the room went on, _but if I can impart even a single valuable thing to him, then maybe I can prove that I'm not completely useless as a teacher. Hah! Maybe I'm trying to make up for Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Minato and Naru—_

Sarutobi stopped. Had he really failed so many? Orochimaru to be sure was his greatest regret, but Jiraiya had always been the one who had stayed loyal. Yet, he had seemed so lost during their conversation. As for Minato, Sarutobi knew that it should have been himself that died instead of the greatest talent Konoha had ever seen. In that regard, he had failed all of Konoha. And Naruto…

_The violence and bloodlust he displayed while battling Neji was everything Minato hated_, Sarutobi thought, _and the way he tortured his enemies in the Forest of Death was disturbing, to say the least. I almost wish the scanners hadn't recorded Naruto performing those ghastly deeds._ _But there is still time. I can help Naruto just as I can help Yawarakai. But what if he comes down to either him or Konoha? What if he stands in the way of our plans? Could I truly harm him? Kill him? Could I...?_

* * *

**A/N**: Sorry this took so long. I hope I made up for it by presenting two chapters instead of just one. I'm gradually revealing Sarutobi's true character and his _modus operandi_ in the political arena. It was pretty interesting getting into the head of someone as old and wise as Sarutobi. The degree to which Sarutobi and Danzo agree is also fleshed out in this chapter. Danzo is more or less Sarutobi's right hand man, which creates a whole set of interesting ideas.

So, you know the drill. Tell me what you think. If you love it, that's awesome. If you hate it, please tell me how to improve in as constructive and non-dickish a manner as possible.

Thanks,

Oramo

_Minshū no Saibansho_—"Court of the People" or "Court of the Rabble"

_shuseki daihyō_—"Chief Representative"

_Shin no Heishi_—"True Soldier": Traditional title of shinobi from the Five Nations in order to differentiate them from shinobi of "lesser skill", which means shinobi from the Subsidiary Nations. This term is not considered overly offensive because it is meant more as praise for the quality of Five Nation shinobi. As time has passed, however, the Subsidiary Nations have become more and more opposed to its use.


	21. Smirk

Egao

_ Naruto stared deep into her crimson eyes, which were matched by crimson hair, a crimson kimono, and a crimson staff that leaned wearily against an old tree with crimson petals. Her skin was pale and beautiful, and her face radiated elegance and sophistication. It was all quite _crimson_._

_ The staff sighed and said, "Just do it already, boy."_

_ Naruto glared at it, but said nothing. What this woman was asking him to do was…horrible, awful, ev—_

_ "Evil, Naruto-kun?" the woman asked aloud._

_ Naruto rolled his eyes and replied, "So what? I find the murder of innocent people to be a tad bit evil."_

_ "Why?" the woman asked._

_ Her eyes twinkled like twin pools of wine._

_ "Why?" Naruto repeated with a sneer. "They're people. They have dreams and emotions and all those pretty things. Killing them would make those that love them miserable and that is evil."_

_ "Please elaborate," the woman replied._

_ The curiosity in her eyes, pure and child-like, never wavered._

_ Naruto stared at her dumbly for a moment. _

_The staff sighed again and began to say, "She wants you to elabora—"_

_ "I know what she said, you stupid cane!" Naruto shouted. "I'm just trying to get over her idiocy. What do you mean 'Please elaborate'? Do not the cries of the maimed and dying touch your heart and bring tears to your eyes? Does the suffering of the innocent not pain you in ways beyond imagining?"_

_ "No," the woman answered without change in either expression or voice, "and it doesn't pain you either." _

_ A child, worn and impoverished suddenly appeared between him and the woman. Wordlessly, the woman wrapped her arms around the child's head and began violently, yet calmly, twisting it in an obvious attempt to snap its neck._

_ The child immediately began screaming, its arms and legs flying wildly around in a desperate attempt to free itself. High-pitched and shrill, the shrieks penetrated Naruto's skull and rang pure and clear within his mind. Yet, he merely watched as the woman twisted the head further and further, as the child's eyes widened and its screams and sobs grew louder, as its life drew closer and closer to an end. With a crack and a final whimper, the child went limp and the woman let it fall lifelessly to the ground._

_ Naruto was taken aback by the violent display, yet he did nothing._

* * *

Naruto's eyes snapped open, lighting the world that surrounded him. He did not sit up in shock or gasp in terror. Instead, he merely blinked and allowed the haze of sleep that clouded his vision to fade away. The soft fuzziness of relaxation lay peacefully upon his brow and a delightful weight kept him from even raising his little finger.

_I wish I could lay here forever_, he thought contentedly.

All thoughts of the child and the strange woman were delightfully meaningless to him. So what that he'd had a nightmare? It was only a fragment of an idea flitting around meaninglessly in his head. This beautiful, encasing drowsiness, however, was very real and he wanted to sink into it forever and ever.

His eyes stretched and yawned, clearing away the last vestiges of blurriness. Naruto saw that he was in a room flowing with warm light. Curtains of the faintest yellow billowed and ruffled with a gentle breeze that poured in through an open window. A table of white wood stood firmly next to his bed, which itself was composed of the cleanest and most comfortable sheets that Naruto had ever slept upon.

"Your hair got longer."

Naruto's eyes snapped open. They snapped open like a lightning crack, a broken twig in a quiet clearing, a whisper on a voiceless hillside. Snap, crack, boom. Light appeared, bringing with it magnificent color that was contrasted by horrible reality.

"It's been a long time, Naruto," the voice continued, its easy, lulling tone bringing to mind days of sweat, pain, and an endless ringing of bells.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto replied, his sleep-encrusted voice sounding hoarse as it traveled through the air.

Surrounding his bed was Team 7 and their hopeful eyes bored into his soul in a desperate search for forgiveness.

* * *

_Military Hospital Ward, One Week after Invasion_

"How have you been?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto was half-tempted to close his eyes, make the sincerest wish he could muster, and then open them to see if everything had disappeared.

"Fine," he answered instead.

He unconsciously began to take in Kakashi-sensei's appearance, scrutinizing with blue eyes every detail that made up the man and then comparing it to his memories of days long gone. To Naruto's dismay, Kakashi-sensei seemed little different from three years ago. Perhaps cleaner and less downtrodden due to the absence of a war, but he was the same nonetheless.

_Why did this have to happen?_ Naruto wondered.

"That's good," Kakashi continued.

Silence descended upon the room. Naruto stared at his former teammates apprehensively. They gazed upon him with the sincerest feelings of hope in their eyes. It was almost too much for him to bear. Almost. Truthfully, part of Naruto enjoyed the undivided attention he was finally receiving from those who had abandoned him. They owed him more than anyone could possibly imagine and that felt…nice.

"Well," Kakashi said with a grim kind of cheer, "might as well get to it. Naruto, I know that nothing we say will fix anything. I know that it will take time for you to even consider forgiving us for failing you. All that we ask for is a chance."

Naruto remained silent, his eyes locked onto the soft sheets crumpled within his hands. He wanted to meet Kakashi's gaze with a glare, to scream and rant about the agony he'd endured in that moment as bitter wind met his scorched flesh. He wanted to hold on to his rage, because it brought him unimaginable _pleasure_. Yes, he took pleasure out of being the victim, the wronged party. He'd been the victim all his life – of the village, of his classmates teasing – but he'd never held the power that all victims have, which is righteousness and the ability to hold guilt over the heads of those who had wronged them. Naruto was the victim of Sasuke and Sakura's betrayal. Therefore, he was in the _right_ and any action he took could be justified.

_I know it's wrong_, he thought, _but it's just feels so good to have this power over them. They owe me. I want what is my due. But…I care about them. I mean, I don't _care_—damn it. How can I describe feelings of longing, betrayal, and torment – feelings that have plagued me from the first moment of my life – with these clumsy utterances and grunts? When I think back upon that single instant, when they stared back at me with fearful eyes and left me to die, I become enraged and hate-filled desires fill my heart to the brim. Yet, looking at them now, I can't help but wither before the hope and love radiating from their mouths and noses and eyes. My hate is undone and I am left without purpose. And then, my mind wanders back to their betrayal and I become consumed by fury once more. The cycle goes on and I am left with nothing but confusion._

"Naruto?"

Naruto's eyes became unglazed and his head snapped to attention. They were all staring at him in that manner he both despised and loved: hopeful, sincere, and kind. He hated it because it destroyed his fantasy of vengeance. He loved it because he was at the center of their attention. Simple, childish symptoms of the thousands of fantasies he'd created to sate the lust for friendship and acknowledgement that he'd been deprived of.

"Y-yes," he replied, "I hear you."

His heart began beating hard and fast. They wanted an answer, a verbal commitment to a rebuilding of their relationship. Did he want that? Could he have it even if he did want it? Can one be friends with another if cause for hatred exists between them?

So many questions, yet Naruto, despite the speed with which his mind worked (or perhaps because of it), had no time to sort them out.

"Let's talk about this later," he said finally. "I need time."

He winced at the disappointment that flashed across their faces, but it was worth it. He couldn't even think about this right now. Not without allowing his mind to settle down. All he could do was hope that they agreed.

"If you think it's best," Kakashi replied slowly.

Inwardly, Naruto cheered. On the outside, however, Naruto merely smiled and mumbled, "Thank you Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi's eye widened a bit at the title Naruto had given him. Judging by the smile that Naruto could see through his mask, however, it was obvious that he was pleased.

"All right then," the monocular jounin proclaimed cheerfully, "we'll get out of your hair."

Kakashi stood up and walked out of the room.

"Bu—Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed angrily. "We haven't—"

"Sakura, Sasuke," Kakashi interrupted from the hallway outside the room, "Naruto needs to rest. We'll talk with him later."

Sakura glared at Kakashi and then turned towards Naruto, worrying him that she would disobey Kakashi.

"C'mon Sakura," Sasuke ordered suddenly, tearing both Naruto and Sakura's shocked gazes onto him.

"What the hell, Sasuke?" Sakura demanded. "You want to talk with him just as much I do!"

Sasuke turned to Naruto and fixed him with a familiar stare. Naruto knew that Sasuke could be patient when he wanted to be…so long as he got what he wanted.

"Naruto's not ready yet," Sasuke replied finally, "but he will be. Right Naruto?

Naruto felt his chest get a little tighter as he forced himself to nod.

"Of course, Sasuke," he answered.

Sasuke continued to stare at him for a moment longer, emphasizing all the more the strength of his desire to talk. Finally, he turned away, shoved his bandaged hands into his pockets, and sulked out of the room after Kakashi. That left Sakura.

Naruto closed his eyes. He didn't even want to see Sakura's face. Several images of demonic ogres with pink hair and eyes of white fire danced inside his head, but the voice that met his ears was soft and eerily calm.

"We want you back, Naruto," Sakura said. "We'll do anything to prove that to you. Please don't punish us any further."

Naruto kept his eyes closed as the soft patter of Sakura's feet against the cool tiles of his room echoed throughout his cranium. Though he had survived this encounter, he couldn't bear the thought of what would happen when the inevitable came to pass. What would be said after everything that'd happened? Naruto's heart leapt into his throat at the thought of it and he buried his face into his pillow in misery.

* * *

_East Wing of Konoha Medical Hospital, One Week after Invasion_

The sheets were soft. She curled them in her fingers, spread her feet and toes out to capture that clean feeling, and sighed as she nestled her cheek against the pillow gently cradling her head.

Anko's eyes snapped open. A thousand and one questions instantly popped into her head, all of them wondering why the hell she was sleeping in such disgustingly white room. The light blazing in through the windows made everything shine, which hurt her eyes horribly. She clamped a hand over them and set her mind to work.

_Think back_, she told herself. _What happened an hour ago? Two hours ago? Three, four, five—the Chuunin Exams. Naruto won. We talked, others fought, and…and…Gaara went apeshit on everything. We pursued and engaged, then Naruto finally nailed him down. After that, it gets really fuzzy, meaning that I went unconscious. Konan's letter!_

Anko took a deep breath to calm down.

If she'd fallen asleep after reading Konan's letter, then why wasn't she in the forest? Why hadn't Naruto woke her up to get back to Ame with Gaara? And who the fuck was knocking on her goddamn door?

"_Situree-simasu_," a kind voice proclaimed, using Konoha's dialect to warn her of impending intrusion. Anko tensed as she heard the door slide open. The click-clack of new shoes and the grainy sound of the door closing soon followed, as did the overpowering scent of artificial cleanliness.

"_Ohayoo gozaimasu Mitarashi-san_," the voice said cheerfully. "_Daizyoobu desu ka?"_

Anko said nothing, hoping that the voice, which obviously belonged to a doctor, would get the hint and leave her alone. Unfortunately, Anko didn't hear the click-clack or the grainy noise. Instead, she could feel the doctor's concerned stare flying up and down her body, scrutinizing her very form for any sign of malady or harm.

Inwardly gashing the doctor's eyes out, Anko flipped onto her back and gave the kind doctor her fiercest glare. What met said glare was the yelp of a squirrely young man with large glasses, a mess of long brown hair, and the wispiest mustache she'd ever seen. The clipboard he'd been holding clattered to the floor, causing countless papers chalk full of graphs and medical terminology to scatter across the floor.

"_Sumimasen, sumimasen!_" he exclaimed upon realizing what he'd done.

He fell to the floor and began furiously gathering his papers back onto the clipboard. Anko watched the doctor's fumbling movements and apologies with a wicked grin. This was more entertaining than she'd thought.

The doctor finally collected all of the documents, however, and said with an apologetic bow, "_Sumimasen desita. Daizyoobu de—_"

"_Ii desu yo_," Anko interjected gruffly, easily keeping up with the doctor's Konoha dialect. "_Nani o sitai desu ka_?"

An excited grin spread across the doctor's face, causing Anko to draw back in surprise.

"_Daizyoobu desu yo!_" he shouted happily. "_Yokatta desu nee! Dono yō ni kanzite iru?_ _Nani ga itai no desu ka?_ _Kono yōna kyūsokuna kaifuku wa subarashii desu…kega no mae kara atta ka na oboete imasu ka?_"

Anko close her eyes and inwardly imagined bashing the doctor's head into a wall. The thought calmed her, but it didn't stop the torrent of words that were flying out of the idiot's mouth. It didn't help that she had just woken up.

"Stop!" she barked, reverting to the dialect common throughout the entire continent.

The doctor visibly started at her shout, which halted his verbal rampage.

"I'm tired and confused," she explained unapologetically, "so speak plainly and tell me what the hell is going on."

"O-of course, Mitarashi-san," the doctor stuttered as he quickly switched dialects. "I did not mean to offend. I just got back from a meeting and—"

Anko narrowed her eyes at him in a very serpentine manner.

"—that has nothing to do with a-anything," the doctor recovered with a nervous laugh. "So, what did you want to know?"

"For starters," she retorted, "you could tell me how I got here."

The doctor nodded and began rifling through the sheets of his clipboard. His mustache rippled atop his upper lip in the most peculiar manner, but Anko didn't care. Instead, she sighed and leaned back against her pillow. If the doctor was going to take this long—

"Here we are!" he exclaimed, causing Anko to jolt into an upright position.

"What the fu—"

Anko started to swear, but she was cut off by the doctor as he began to read the document.

"You were brought in by two Chuunin," he began. "They were apparently searching for that Gaara character in order to bring him in for questioning. It seems that you were found alongside him…"

Anko immediately descended upon this new information. Konan's sleeping jutsu must have been in effect for a long time indeed if they were discovered in the middle of the forest. Then again, Gaara's rampage had probably made a pretty obvious trail. If what this buffoon was saying was accurate, then even Naruto had been "recovered". Pain and Konan must have been pretty serious about them staying here.

"…It goes on," the doctor continued, "to say that everyone found in the area was brought back for medical treatment. After that, there's a list of which hospitals they were sent to and who the doctors are that are currently caring for them. To answer your question then, you're in the East Wing Konoha Medical Hospital and as for your doctor, that's me."

He waved at her cheerfully.

"Shinsetsuna Tsukisasu," he informed her with a bow. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. You can call me Tsuki, if you like."

"All right Tsuki," Anko continued, "how long have I been here?"

Tsuki stroked his mustache thoughtfully, before replying, "About a week."

Anko's face faltered.

_A little much, don't ya think Konan? _she thought.

"I was actually getting a little worried," Tsuki went on, "because your injuries honestly weren't bad enough to put you in such a state. It was why I was speaking that dialect to you. I simply wasn't used to you responding. It's also why I got really excited when you _did _start responding."

"That's wonderful," Anko replied dryly. "Now what?"

"Well," Tsuki answered, "we run a few tests to see how you're doing and then, once it's been determined that you're okay, we'll have a few questions for you about what took place during the battle. Nothing too serious, I assure you. You guys were the ones who beat him, after all. We have no reason to—oh hang on," the doctor suddenly exclaimed as his eye caught something on his clipboard, "you're _his _teammate?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Anko demanded, worry flaring up within her.

Was he talking about Naruto?

"Well, that's really interesting," he said. "I guess you'll be asked a few more questions after all."

"Explain," Anko growled.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt to tell you," he replied nervously. "It seems that the name of one of your teammates, 'Hisomuikou Jinkoumaru', is a fake name. His real name is Uzumaki Naruto. He was a Konoha nin that was originally thought to be KIA during the war. Turns out that Ame found him half-dead and took him in. Were you aware that he wasn't a native?"

He stared at her with the most genuinely quizzical look Anko had ever seen and there were no sarcastic undertones in his voice that suggested he knew she'd known Naruto's true identity. But, why did she get the feeling that she was being interrogated?

"No," she mumbled, thankful that her emotional turmoil was easy to mask as shock, "I didn't."

"I'm very sorry," he replied with a sympathetic frown. "Don't worry though. I hear the Council is taking a favorable stance towards his trial. I mean, given the circumstances, it's certainly understandable—"

"What?" she shouted, cutting him off. "What trial?"

The doctor looked quite flabbergasted by her abrupt change in demeanor and he adjusted his glasses several times as he stumbled about for an answer.

"W-well," he responded, "he is technically a missing nin. Unless the trauma of his near-death experience caused him to lose his memory, which we have concluded did _not _occur, Uzumaki-san should have, in accordance with basic shinobi protocol, informed the Ame government of his identity and asked them to escort him back to Konoha. The fact that he didn't do so, during a war no less, is suspicious at the very least. B-but," he blurted out quickly upon seeing Anko's face fall, "I'm sure it'll be fine. The Council will be very forgiving to Uzumaki-san given the circumstances. According to the report, Uzumaki-san's teammates technically left him to die. It is perfectly understandable for him to have questioned his loyalties during that time."

Anko felt relief wash through her system, but it quickly dissipated upon hearing the doctor's next words.

"I suppose you could think of this trial as a method the Council can use to be sure of Uzumaki-san's current loyalties. I think the higher ups just need to be certain he's set his priorities straight."

"What does that mean?" Anko demanded.

The doctor replied in the most cheerful of voices, "It means that Uzumaki-san will be able to return to Konoha. I hope Ame didn't expect to have to care for him forever. We would never want to impose such a burden upon our allies. Have no fear, Mitarashi-san. Uzumaki-san is finally home. Oh, is something wrong?"

* * *

_Military Hospital Ward, One Week and a Half after Invasion_

"Yes, something is wrong!" Naruto shouted. "I have to go to a freaking trial to determine my loyalty! Have you never studied the workings of autocracies? Doesn't this strike you as little, oh, autocratic? Besides, I'm still injured from my battle!"

Kakashi scratched his cheek. Naruto hadn't taken the news of a trial very well. Of course, it had made him open up a little more to Kakashi.

_And by open_, he thought dryly, _I mean shouting into my face with the ferocity of the Seven Winds._

"Listen Naruto," Kakashi began gently, "there's no reason for you to get so worked up over this. You have to remember that much of our power lies within our soldiers and if our soldiers aren't loyal, then we can't operate. As for your injuries, they actually weren't that bad. You simply had chakra exhaustion. Of course, if there's something else worrying you…"

Naruto turned his blue eyes away, clueing Kakashi in instantly on why Naruto really didn't want to go.

"You're afraid you won't be able to return to Ame, right?"

Kakashi sighed when he saw Naruto visibly tense. It was as he'd expected. His first thoughts when he'd watched "Jinkoumaru" fight in the Finals had been centered on how cruel and hateful the boy had been. Now that he knew "Jinkoumaru" was Naruto, the only conclusion Kakashi could come to was that the malice that Jinkoumaru had displayed had to have had some basis in Naruto's true feelings. No amount of shinobi training could make someone that believable. That hatred probably made Konoha the worst place in the world right now for Naruto.

_I know why too_, Kakashi thought. _Why on earth would Naruto want to stay in the village that shunned him as a child and then abandoned him without a second thought? But, there was a second thought. And a third, and a fourth, and so on into infinity. Naruto has always been at the forefront of Sakura and Sasuke's minds. How can I get him to see that? Whatever I do, though, I can't rush into it. He needs his own time to come to terms with what happened. Of course, forcing him to stay in Konoha won't help matters at all, but that's just something we'll have to work around._

"C'mon," Kakashi said, "it won't be that bad."

Naruto glared at him.

The door to Naruto's room suddenly flew open, revealing a slight, attractive figure garbed in white who was accompanied by two burly Chuunin. Kakashi knew the figure to be Shizuka Hitode. Hitode was an elite Takai Jounin just like Kakashi, save that he was one of the ten who served directly under the Hokage. The man's midnight black hair and piercing blue eyes were unmistakable.

_What the hell is he doing here? _Kakashi wondered as worry sprouted within his heart.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Hitode stated in a bored voice, "you are expected before the Council. Come with us now."

Kakashi winced as words of protest began to escape Naruto's mouth.

"But I was told that it wouldn't be until—"

"You were told wrong," Hitode interjected. "Come with us immediately or we will be forced to drag you there. Don't worry about your clothes."

Hitode added the last part as a kind of afterthought, but its meaning couldn't have been clearer: the Council wanted this Trial to happen now, so much so that Naruto didn't even have to dress in formal wear despite the fact that he was appearing in front of the most important people in Konoha. Furthermore, the Trial merited the attention of a shinobi of Hitode's caliber. That was saying something, considering that only Kakashi and a select few could beat him in one-on-one combat.

Kakashi glanced at Naruto and nodded to him encouragingly.

"It'll be over before you know it," he whispered with a wink.

It didn't do much good. Naruto's face had lost all color and he appeared fragile and small amidst the covers of his bed. Nevertheless, he swung his spindly legs over the bedside and landed confidently, if unsteadily, upon the clean hospital floor.

He slipped into a pair of clean sandals manufactured by the hospital for patient use and began walking over towards Hitode and the two ominous-looking guards. Kakashi suddenly became very afraid for his former student.

"Hitode," he called out, startling the bored man into attention, "may I accompany Naruto to the Council Room?"

Hitode frowned.

"Sorry Kakashi," he answered. "I've got strict orders to only take him."

Kakashi glanced upon Naruto's vulnerable form and felt himself break a little inside. He'd left Naruto once already. Why were they making him do it again?

Shrugging when Kakashi said nothing more, Hitode wrapped an arm around Naruto and guided him out the door. Kakashi could only watch on as Naruto disappeared from view, his spiky blond hair swaying a little as he walked. At the last moment, Naruto glanced back at him. His eyes were filled with a mixture of emotions, but Kakashi could see the fear of a child who had been rendered helpless before cruel adults. Before Kakashi could do anything, however, Naruto was gone.

* * *

_Council Hall _

The craftsmanship of the Council Hall was unique in many ways. This was best demonstrated by the fact that it hadn't been "crafted" by anyone. Not by hand, anyway. Naruto knew of no carpentry that could arch wooden pillars so perfectly or extend the walls to such amazing heights without marring a single tree without the aid of the First Hokage's Mokuton.

Accenting the Hall's majesty were beautiful windows decorated with heroic and heavenly images, which created an atmosphere of benevolent rule. There were also many political figures of all ranks in the hallway, every one of whom could be seen planning arguments and ironing out details in their schemes. It was an atmosphere of motion, progress, and change that Naruto could not help but love. It might have been an amazing experience had he not currently been wearing a flimsy hospital gown

Hitode suddenly stopped in front of a large wooden door whose top extended dozens of feet above him, nearly causing Naruto to run right into one of the Chuunin.

"Here we are," Hitode mumbled.

Naruto watched nervously as Hitode knocked on the door's ancient wood.

The door abruptly whirled open, sending a gust of wind into Naruto's face. Gazing upon the room, Naruto felt his resolve wither. There was no light whatsoever, save for that which came from the hallway and extended forward as a meager column of visibility amidst total darkness.

Naruto scowled and debated whether or not he should activate his Onikaigan. He immediately scratched the idea. While it would allow him to instantly see the _issui _of any potential attackers lurking within the shadows, Hitode would no doubt notice.

_Am I to simply walk forward, back into my captors' hands? _he wondered.

He could feel Hitode's blue eyes boring into his back, which made him all the more nervous.

"Is something wrong?" he heard Hitode ask.

Quickly turning around, Naruto replied with a warm smile, "Not at all. Just thinking about what I need to say."

"This isn't a test," Hitode retorted with the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice. "They're just going to ask a few questions about what went on in Ame. Answer honestly and you'll be fine."

_No_, Naruto thought grimly, _I don't think I would._

Sighing, he stepped forward into the pitch black room and began slowly walking towards the end of the rectangle of light.

* * *

The darkness concealed everything around Naruto save for his own shadow. It stretched upon the small beam of light into the darkness like a great stain, painfully emphasizing how small he really was. He glanced behind him and noticed that Hitode and his two guards had vanished. Delightful…

"Come forward."

Naruto's heart hopped a little inside his chest. He hated it when someone spoke without warning.

_Calm_, he told himself. _Be calm. Can't let them see me sweat._

Staring straight ahead, Naruto began walking along the rectangle of light into the thick blackness before him. As long as the light remained, he had a firm path upon which to walk.

In a windy _whoosh_, the door behind Naruto slammed shut and the light vanished. Before he even had time be startled, a circle flashed into existence several yards in front of him. Radiant as the moon on a clear night, the circle was a beacon to Naruto amidst a sea of impenetrable darkness. He walked towards it without hesitation, his sandaled feet sending eerie echoes as they padded against the ground.

When he stepped into the circle, black jutsu seals sprang to life around him and wrapped themselves around his legs and ankles with serpentine speed, leaving him bound within the circle. Naruto's first instinct was to use his Onikaigan to break the jutsu, but he forced himself to calm down. He had to behave.

"Uzumaki Naruto," the voice, which he now recognized as female, began, "you have been called here on account of your four-year absence from Konoha. For a ninja, this is unacceptable. For a jinchuriki, it is death."

Naruto's eyes widened considerably and his heart leapt to his throat. Surely they wouldn't execute him…

"However," the voice continued, allowing relief to wash through Naruto, "given your youth and the circumstances surrounding your 'departure', we are more than willing to understand your reasons for remaining with our allies. In fact, the Council has agreed to provide you with a new residency free of charge in the Yutaka District north of the Council Hall in order to help you better reacclimatize to Konoha—"

"What do you mean?" Naruto interjected as a feeling of horror began creeping into his gut. "Why would I need a house here?"

_No! _he thought. _Will they make me stay here? They can't! If they do, I'll never be able to leave! Damn it Pain, damn it!_

"If you are to begin living in Konoha again, Uzumaki-san," a new, more cheerful voice answered, "you will need a place to stay. The good news is that you will not be alone this time. We have made arrangements with Ame to allow Mitarashi Anko to stay with you for the time being. Yet another effort on our part to help you rejoin Konoha society."

Naruto clenched and unclenched his hands at his sides. Droplets of sweat made them feel sticky and moist, arousing memories of days spent in the humid forests of Ame merrily hunting enemies of Akatsuki with Anko.

"Uzumaki-san?"

"I have family in Ame," he blurted out desperately. "They love me there and the people are so…they don't hate me like they do here. Please, _please _don't take me away from that."

"You know why we must refuse, Uzumaki Naruto," the feminine voice, hidden within shadows, proclaimed. "You are the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki and Konoha's trump card if another war were to break out. You know as well as anyone that it would be absurd and foolish of us to give you away simply to appease your own selfish desires."

"Selfish?" he screamed, desperation and outrage driving his words. "Is it so selfish to want to be loved? Is it so selfish to be happy that people don't glare at you or ignore you as you walk down the street? How is that selfish? Tell me!"

"It is selfish when you leave the lives of thousands unprotected against the cruel forces of the shinobi world," a new voice retorted with the slightest inflection of anger. "You are Konoha's Jinchuriki, the guardian of its people. Your entire life is a sacrifice. You will do well to remember that, _Uzumaki Naruto_."

Naruto hated the helpless horror forming a pit within his gut. He hated that he couldn't lash out at these cruel, cruel monsters like he desired to. What could he do? They hadn't given him any time to analyze his options and present a counterargument to their claims. Instead, they'd made sure he was as unprepared as possible and then blindsided him with…with _this_.

A thought suddenly entered Naruto's head and it rattled him to the core with its power.

_Could it work?_ he wondered. _Would Pain and Konan disapprove? It's not like I'd be revealing any of our plans and they'll find out anyway soon enough. Hell, it might be my ticket out of here. Yes, if they knew—_

Konan's letter, with its neat handwriting and elegant swirls, abruptly ended this train of thought. They wanted him to stay in Konoha. He had little idea why, but they desired it nonetheless. He couldn't leave yet, which meant that revealing that the Kyuubi was gone from his body was out of the question. It could cause the Council to detain him for "study" in order to probe his body for any signs of the King of the Bijuu. Hell, they might even kill him. Worse yet, they would probably investigate Ame on the grounds that they'd stolen "Konoha's greatest weapon".

_I…I guess I'm stuck here_, he thought, all the sorrows of the world wrenching his insides apart. _At least I'll have Anko._

Staring into the indiscernible darkness, he asked meekly, "Can I visit Ame?"

There was a healthy degree of whispering before the original feminine voice finally answered, "There will be many missions passing near Ame. We will not hesitate to assign you to one of these in order to allow you a chance to visit whomever you desire to. Of course, you'll have an escort to ensure you don't come to harm."

Naruto glared hatefully into the darkness. It was a crappy deal, but it was the best he was going to get. He just had to tell himself that Pain and Konan would find a way to get him out of this. He had to.

"Fine," he uttered. "What do I need to do?"

Naruto could almost see dark figures shifting and leaning against one another as if in deep conversation.

"Ever since your absence," the female voice finally answered, "Konoha has adopted several new practices to ensure the protection and loyalty of our shinobi. One such practice is the Pledge."

Naruto suddenly detected an incoming chakra signature and tensed his body for attack. Moments later, a Chuunin appeared by his side with a chakra scalpel gleaming in his right hand. Naruto prepared to break the jutsu holding his legs and leap away, but stopped upon seeing the Chuunin hold up his hands in a clear gesture of peace.

"Do not be alarmed," the female voice cautioned. "The Pledge requires that a seal be placed directly above your heart so that it will be connected to your entire chakra network. This Chuunin will place it upon as you as you recite the Pledge. You will, of course, need to allow the seal to connect with your chakra, but I'm sure you won't have any problems with that. Am I right, Uzumaki-san?"

Naruto grimaced. He had heard about this cruel device from Pain a couple years ago. Simply put, it bounded one's chakra network to the collective chakra of Konoha, allowing officials to know where one was at all times. It also allowed for the execution of rogue shinobi in an instant. It was little wonder that no Konoha shinobi had ever gone missing nin since the induction of the Pledge and lived more than a few moments afterwards. Konoha only put it on those who they deemed "unsafe", after all. How could any one shinobi hope to oppose them from the inside with this as their fate?

He wouldn't get any help from the outside either. As far as Naruto knew, no other Nation had learned of this practice and he had little doubt that Konoha planned to keep it that way. It was a brutal enough fact that Pain was considering spreading the information about Konoha's use of the Pledge amongst the other Nations to sow dissent. Maybe if Pain followed through with that...but no. There wasn't enough time and the likelihood of the other Nations doing anything about it even if they believed it was slim.

"And if I refuse?" Naruto asked.

"You will be executed," a different, deeper voice responded. "Is this disagreeable to you?"

The scalpel in the Chuunin's hand gleamed with malice.

"Not at all," he answered sarcastically.

"Excellent," the female voice stated crisply. "The Pledge itself is the same pledge recited in the Academy. While you are speaking this pledge, the seal will be drawn onto the desired area. It will be painful, but that is nothing for a Konoha shinobi. Are you ready?"

The Chuunin suddenly grabbed Naruto's shirt and ripped it open, exposing the skin above his heart. The scalpel drove into his flesh before he could even scream.

Forcing that old pledge that he'd recited countless times back into his head, Naruto began, "I-I ple—"

The scalpel twirled around and around in a artistic flourishes, causing to Naruto to spasm with pain.

"I pledge my body…" he began again, struggling to keep out the pain, "and m-m-m—my soul until I…I am needed by death or my death is needed by the village. On these wor…_On these words_ _I do so swear to join the Konoha Shinobi Forces under the command of the Hokage!_"

Naruto finished the last phrase in a pathetic squeal just as the scalpel finished its dance across his flesh. As soon as the blade lifted off of his skin, Naruto allowed his chakra to accept the seal. It immediately began burning and bubbling, causing him to fall to his knees with a barely restrained scream. He breathed hard and fast as he desperately clamped his palm to the searing agony that tormented his chest.

"A little dated," the cheerful voice remarked at the end of Naruto's oath, "but it will do nicely."

Tears sprang to Naruto's eyes, though whether it was from the pain or shame at being forced to submit to these bastards he didn't know.

"Thank you very much for your cooperation," the female voice said in what might have been a kind way. "I think I speak for all present when I say that we admire and cherish your sacrifice from the bottom of our hearts. Now, onto more pressing matters. We assume you wish to be assigned to your old squad, but it is perfectly understandable for you to part ways with them given the manner in which you were 'separated'. Do you desire to rejoin Team 7?"

Naruto trembled. The pain was sending him through memories and images he had long desired to be forgotten. The most dreadful of them – when Sasuke and Sakura left him to die – tormented him endlessly.

_Always leaving, always running, never caring for poor Naruto…_

"Uzumaki-san?"

Naruto's head rolled up and he glared at into the darkness. He wanted to kill them, watch them bleed and squeal as he cut them open. But…

_Answer and behave_, he forced himself to think. _Behave, so that you may kill them later. Behave…to kill._

"Yes," he mumbled. "Sakura and Sasuke…they'll do fine."

"Good," the female voice responded, somehow hearing Naruto despite the softness of his voice. "I'm sure they'll make your transition back into Konoha all the easier. In fact, I suggest training with them as soon as your injuries are healed. But before that, we must inform you that there will be some questions about the Suna Jinchuriki you fought."

"Gaara?" Naruto queried, his mind briefly jumping from the steady throbbing of pain to the sad boy he had fought in the forest.

"Is that his name?" the cheerful voice asked. "Yes, we'll need you to give a report on the battle. Circumstances may change, but procedure never does."

The voice chuckled heartily at its own joke, but no one else joined in.

"You won't need to do that now, of course," the female voice interjected, her tone suggesting exasperation and annoyance. "It's more than understandable for you to still be exhausted from your injuries. Just write it up whenever you can and then talk with the head of the Department of Information Acquisition and Handling, Ibiki Morino-san. Such knowledge will be valuable in cracking that psychopath's head."

Within the crumbling structures of Naruto's inner world, a small flicker of humor found its way into his thoughts. He started smiling.

"The term psychopath," he began, "is actually somewhat outdated. Its social connotation has become so full of moral and ethical entanglements that many experts in the field prefer to ignore the term altogether for fear that someone from the general public might make quick, _uninformed_ judgments about a person displaying what they believe, often incorrectly, to be psychopathic behavior. This leads those who are ignorant to the term's true meaning to label certain individuals or activities as being psychopathic, when such behavior or individuals are, in fact, victim to other, more treatable ailments. A great example of this rampant and foolish generalization is labeling Sabaku no Gaara as a psychopath."

The room became quite silent for several moments, filling Naruto to the brim with vindictive joy. He could imagine those poor fools fumbling over his words, desperately trying to process concepts that were vague and foreign to them. The image, however fantastical, delighted him to no end.

Finally, one of the voices asked, "S-so, you'll file the report?"

Naruto smirked.

* * *

**A/N****: **These last two chapters took forever to write and I'm not really satisfied with the final versions. Still, I think they move the story along and set up an interesting situation for Naruto to work around. As always, review and provide constructive criticism at your leisure.

Oramo

_Moosiwake gozaimasen, Daizyoobu desu ka, etc._—"Please forgive me (for intruding)", "Are you all right?", etc. While these phrases are used in the correct context (to my knowledge), the romanization I used for them might seem a little odd to fluent Japanese speakers, writers, and readers of romanji and the other Japanese alphabets. If you are fluent in these categories, let me know how they are supposed to be Romanized.

Anko and Doctor's Conversation:

_Situree-simasu _– "Excuse me (I'm coming in)."

_Ohayoo gozaimasu Mitarashi-san _– "Good morning Mitarashi-san."

_Daizyoobu desu ka?_ – "Are you feeling all right?"

_Sumimasen, sumimasen!_ _Daizyoobu de - _– "Excuse me, excuse me! Are you oka—"

_Ii desu yo. Nani o sitai desu ka?_ – "I'm fine. What do you want?"


	22. Contemplation

**A/N****:** I want to thank all of you for your responses to my "Author's Note". It really meant a lot to me that so many of you took an interest in the development of this story.

There was one review that piqued my interest and reminded me of a topic that I had not discussed in my "Author's Note". The reviewer brought up a detail of Naruto's personality that I had mentioned in the earlier chapters (when I still didn't have a clue where I was really going with the story). I had written that Naruto would possess "narcissistic and murderous tendencies". The reviewer took this to mean that Naruto would be a sociopath, which is totally understandable given how many jokes Naruto's made about the term "sociopath".

In case any of you are wondering the same thing, Naruto is not a sociopath. While a sociopath may have narcissistic and murderous tendencies, they are afflicted by a different type of disorder altogether. To put it simply, a sociopath can't form emotional connections with other people. While this would be very interesting to write about, it would also kill any emotional ties Naruto has with those he cares about (Anko, Pain, and Konan). A narcissist, on the other hand, has such a cripplingly low self-esteem that they hide behind a massive superiority concept to protect themselves, which may make it seem like they don't care at all about anyone else. However, they can still easily form emotional connections with others. In fact, these emotional ties could very well be the basis of their narcissism. You can learn more about sociopathic behavior in a Cambridge Journals article titled "Stimulation and the Psychology of Sociopathy" by Joseph Cruz (.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=29291). Just click "View PDF" in the top of the screen to read the article.

As for the murderous tendencies, we all, truthfully, have murderous tendencies that flare up within our minds in those moments of intense rage (such as when some bastard noob tubes me in COD: Black Ops and I want to shove a missile launcher up his or her ass). Naruto's anger is much more severe, bred and sharpened after long years of emotional abuse in Konoha and from Sasuke and Sakura's abandonment of him. It is this rage that is causing his severe headaches, which drives him to kill in order to satiate that rage. Unfortunately, venting your anger on someone (either through shouting or, in Naruto's case, with a kunai in their kidney) only makes your anger grow.

So in other words, Naruto is not a sociopath, he shields himself behind narcissism whenever he feels his ego and self-esteem are threatened, and his murderous tendencies are aroused through intense, repressed anger. This makes it seem as if Naruto simply has severe temper tantrums. That's exactly it. Like many murderers who kill out of rage, he has a childish level of control over his temper and allows it to rule him. How Naruto deals with this will be an important part of his development as a person. In fact, he'll discover the beginnings of a solution in this chapter.

The reviewer who asked about this only listed themselves as "Anonymous", so I can't respond back with a message. I would still like to speak with you, however, because you brought up several excellent points about Naruto's feelings towards Konoha and Team 7. Just message me and I'll respond back fairly quickly.

**A/N+: **XPGamer brought to my attention Tayuya's absence from the last two chapters. I had planned to show what's going on with her next chapter, but I feel that XPGamer is right adn that the Tayuya section should be in this chapter. I would like to thank XPGamer for informing me of this.

As for the Sound Four, I'm debating how great of a role they'll play in this. Jirobo, Sakon and Ukon, and Kidomaru were a part of the force of faux-Suna nin under Orochimaru's command, but that doesn't mean they're dead. Let me know what you guys think.

**A/N++** (2/15/2012): I modified this chapter recently to fill in some blank spots I'd left in the story. Namely, why Konoha hasn't been able to investigate Ame more thoroughly. Long story short, it was because the Fourth War started after Danzo's encounter with Nagato. I didn't make this clear in the previous edition and I wanted to that here.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 22 ("Author's Note" not included) of _Naze?_, titled "Contemplation".

* * *

Contemplation

His sandals clattered noisily against the cobbled street, bringing to mind the slick and shining streets of Amegakure that had greeted Naruto whenever he'd returned from a mission. The beautiful night sky only made that small spark of homesickness grow. It elicited memories of evenings spent under the stars with Anko, laughing and joking as they huddle close to the comforting warmth of the fire they'd build with their own young hands.

_Home_, he thought. _Pain, Konan, the moist air kissing my face as I ran, the people's smiles, the freedom to kill and laugh all at once…my home…They have taken it away from me!_

Naruto clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides as he walked behind the chuunin guard assigned to him. Apparently the Council didn't feel they needed a ninja as powerful as Hitode to guard their Jinchuriki anymore.

_Guard? _Naruto thought with a derisive snort. _Hitode was more like a failsafe should I have gotten a little too "uppity". Now that I have this damnable Pledge on me…Those vile bastards! Everything I loved and held dear they have ripped from me and burned to ashes!_

He unconsciously grabbed his robe in the area right above where the Pledge had been etched into his flesh. Though the wound had surprisingly stopped hurting the moment they'd left the Council Hall, the shame of how he'd whimpered in front of those fools kindled the flames of rage within him. He couldn't stop his thoughts from wandering back to that dark room and those stupid, fat faces.

The chuunin suddenly stopped, halting Naruto in his tracks.

_What now?_ he wondered, still consumed by angry thoughts and fantasies of skewering each of the Council members upon something long and sharp.

Looking around the chuunin, Naruto found that they had reached the hospital. The building's white stone glowing warmly in the light of the moon seemed to urge him to feel better. It stretched tall and valiantly into the sky, casting cool shadows upon the courtyard at its base. Beautiful flowers of all kinds, illuminated by starlight, dwelled peacefully within the rich dirt of this courtyard. A gentle breeze blew through the area, making the very ground seem to sway in a colorful dance.

Naruto sighed as his rage began to dissipate and he resorted to solemnly trudging after the chuunin.

The cobbled streets gave way to the sparkling sanitation of the hospital the moment he walked through the hospital door. The entire building was filled with the forced cheer of nurses and pathetic mewling of the ill and decrepit. Naruto's angry mood swiftly returned. It was only worsened when a nurse smiled at him warmly and then gave a child bawling in its mother's lap the exact same smile not a moment later, as if attending to the cheer of others was a job and not an enjoyable thing in and of itself. Bitch…

"This way," the chuunin said.

Naruto thought he detected disdain in the chuunin's voice. Was the hatred of Konoha's Jinchuriki amaking a comeback? His already sour mood and steadily shortening temper made him half-tempted to risk the hospital's chakra-detection system and activate his Kekkei Genkai to read the chuunin's _issui_. Fortunately, rational thinking kicked in and he proceeded to follow the chuunin to his room.

As they walked down halls and up flights of steps – all of them as clean and pristine as the last – Naruto found himself wondering if Kakashi would still be in his room. He sincerely hoped not. He couldn't sort out this mess with one of the enem—

_The enemy… _he thought, slowly pronouncing each syllable in his head as if the very word was a new and mysterious concept. _Could I really view Kakashi as such? Sakura and Sasuke maybe, but Kakashi has done nothing to me. Hah! That's exactly it, isn't it? He's done nothing _for _me either. He didn't even budge when Hitode came to take me away. Besides, he's loyal to the Hokage. I'm guessing he wouldn't be down with Pain's plan._

He chuckled, but deep down Naruto felt a tinge of anxiety. If anything, the idea of merely fighting his old sensei made him want to dig a hole and bury himself in it. But if the time ever came for him to deliver the finishing blow against Kakashi – hell, against Sakura or Sasuke –could he do it? Could he kill them?

_I suppose I've never thought about Pain's plan that way_, he realized. _I guess I didn't think about how my friends in Konoha would react, or maybe I just deliberately ignored it. _

"Here we are," the chuunin mumbled. "You can rest now and—what the hell?"

Naruto snapped out of his reverie. His naturally inquisitive mind wanted to know why the chuunin had cursed. He found the answer in the fumbling and writhing motions of the man's hand every time it went near the door handle. It took Naruto a moment to realize what was going on, but a familiar scratch on the tip of the golden handle clued him in immediately.

His mood somewhat lifted, he smiled and gently pushed the chuunin's hand away. In response to the man's surprised look, he explained, "It's a little difficult to get open. There's a certain trick…"

He grabbed the handle and sent a surge of his own chakra in, releasing Anko's jutsu instantly.

"…_voila_!"

Naruto smiled warmly at the chuunin as the door clicked open. The chuunin stared skeptically at both him and the door. Naruto's smile broadened.

Shrugging, the chuunin said, "Whatever. Just as long as you're rested for your training."

Naruto's smile vanished.

"Training?" he asked in as restrained a voice as he could muster.

"Didn't the Council tell you?" the chuunin asked with a scowl.

_They did, you insufferable idiot_, Naruto thought, _but I didn't think it would be so damn soon. _

"Oh!" he exclaimed in mock surprise. "I must not have heard them."

_This isn't good_, he thought._ I need to think of a plan to get out of here, not waste time training with some squad. Oh shit. Didn't I say I'd go with Team 7?_

"Well, just get some rest," the chuunin grumbled. "You'll have a lot of catching up to do in order to get up to Konoha standards."

Naruto nodded, but inwardly wanted to open the man's guts and show him just how much he thought of "Konoha standards".

"Thanks for your help," Naruto said.

The chuunin mumbled something and then walked away down the hall.

Naruto waited until the red swirls on the back of the man's chuunin vest disappeared around a corner before he poked his head into the room. Glancing around, he noticed that nothing had changed from the state it'd been in before he'd left for the trial. Except for Anko lying asleep in his bed.

Her purple hair lay splattered across her back as she lay face down on the pillow, while her shoes had been kicked haphazardly across the floor. Her hospital gown gave her a slightly greater degree of modesty than her usual attire, but Naruto still couldn't help noticing the two bumps protruding from her chest into the mattress.

Blinking away the strange thoughts, Naruto said, "You can wake up now."

One of Anko's eyelids snapped open, revealing her exotic golden eyes.

"How'd you know I was awake?" she asked.

If Naruto had to guess, she appeared to be a little miffed.

"You snore when you sleep," he replied with a grin.

She flipped full onto her back and glared at him. He chuckled as he kicked off his own sandals and moved to sit down next to her.

"Nope!" she exclaimed, blocking the side he was about to lay on with her arm. "You're not allowed on because you said I snore."

"But you do!" he retorted, spreading his arms out wide in protest. "I was merely stating—"

"Gotcha!"

Her hands flew up to his sides before he could even blink and she initiated a ferocious tickle assault. Being the unfathomably ticklish person that he was, Naruto collapsed onto the bed in a fit of hysterical giggles. He helplessly wormed around as Anko relentlessly jabbed his ribs.

_Only Anko could pull me out of such a horrid mood_, he thought happily. _What would I do—_

A sharp knock halted his thoughts immediately.

Both Naruto and Anko froze, their eyes locked onto the source of the sound.

Standing in the doorway was a bandaged and solemn Gouzen. His face, normally cheerful and exuberant, was set in a hard stare.

"Uhh, hiya Gouzen!" Anko exclaimed with a cheerful wave.

Surprisingly, Gouzen didn't respond to his crush. His brown eyes were locked solely on Naruto.

"Something wrong, Gouzen?" Naruto asked. "Got something to say to your old pal Jinkou?"

_Until I figure out what to do_, Naruto thought, _it's critical that I maintain my façade as Jinkoumaru. I could use Gouzen to help Anko and I get out of here, but he won't listen if he finds out— _

"You don't need to lie to me anymore…Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

Tayuya sat at the edge of her bed, legs dangling ever so slightly above the dizzyingly bright tiles of the hospital floor. It was strange how quickly she descended into weariness now whenever Anko wasn't around. She like having her friend next door. It helped her ignore the fact that she couldn't concentrate on hardly anything anymore.

_I've been cooped up in this fucking place for way too long_, she thought.

Yet this thought, like all the others, was slow and heavy. Her very mind felt like a block of metal drifting deeper and deeper into a fathomless ocean.

_The drugs_, she thought.

Like Anko, Tayuya had been unconscious for around a week. Unlike Anko, however, Tayuya had been getting a daily dose of drugs in every bit of food they'd shoved into her. Since they'd both woken up about four days ago, Tayuya had managed to keep this a secret from Anko by pouring all of her energy into talking with her whenever she came over to visit.

_Anko would try to do something if she found out_, Tayuya thought. _I can't let her take that risk. It'll be fine so long as she doesn't know. Yeah, just fine. Maybe if I lay down for a bit, then-_

"No," she growled. "They won't drug me into complacency. Fucking leaf pricks!"

Her anger dispelled the haze of weariness for a moment and Tayuya quickly began thinking in order to take advantage of this temporary clarity.

_But Anko needs to be safe_, she told herself. _She can't be worried about me. She has to focus on getter her and her team back to safety. Away from Konoha...and me. _

Tayuya sighed. The moment she'd found out she was being drugged, Tayuya had known that Konoha had figured out her part in Orochimaru's plan. This knowledge was all but verified when she found out that Orochimaru had been captured. No one, not even the most badass motherfucking shinobi on the continent, could withstand interrogation forever. Orochimaru probably threw out the names of his top lieutenants the first chance he got.

_I'm done_, Tayuya told herself somberly. _Konoha's just keeping me alive to keep Anko from going berserk. Once they don't need me, I'm...I'm done._

The weariness returned as soon as Tayuya began descending into sadness.

Tayuya was tough. She was strong and powerful, a model to someone like Anko searching for something to mask their vulnerabilities. But she was also fourteen and very aware of the life she had yet to live. She didn't want to die. Not slow and creeping like this. At least in battle she'd get killed so quick she wouldn't even know she was dead. Now, all she had to look forward to was death. A part of her, buried deep, deep down, wanted to start sobbing. It was like being locked in Orochimaru's dungeons all over again, alone and in the dark.

A revelation suddenly struck her and her heart soared with vindictive joy. She smiled. And then she laughed. It was a loud and hoarse laugh, yet the wild mirth that lay within was unmistakable.

"I've survived Orochimaru's dungeons," she shouted happily to the bugs she knew were in the walls. "I killed my way to become one of his best! You think a fucking drug's gonna stop _me_?"

She laughed again.

_No_, she thought with relish, _I'm not gonna die here. Anko, you just keep playing it nice. Same with Naruto. We'll lull these bastards into a false sense of security and then..._

Smiling, Tayuya closed her eyes and began practicing the basics of a mental technique to combat weariness that Sakon had once shown her. She'd never gotten good at it, but she figured now was a better time than any to try. Anything to see the look on those Konoha fuckers' faces when she killed every last one of them.

* * *

Naruto's mind went into a frenzy as he sat up to address Gouzen.

_Someone must have told him_, he reasoned as anger began mounting within him. _Anko? No, she understands the necessity of allies. Maybe a Konoha nin…yes, the Council would want to alienate me from Ame in any way possible. It's perfectly legitimate too. Wouldn't my teammates have the right to know my actual identity? They must have told Gouzen my real name in order to cut off that connection to Ame. It's not much of a connection, but it was still my only other tie to Ame besides Anko. Those bastards! _

A familiar headache flared up inside Naruto's skull and he found himself desiring to slit Gouzen's pathetic little throat with a kunai. Yes, a kunai would do wonders for that wretched, disgusting, fool of a boy! Then he would carve out the tongues of those idiots on the Council and they would beg him to stop…They would need _him _and they would beg for his love!

Naruto suddenly heard a whisper inside his head. It beckoned to him like a mother's voice would a weeping child. He had tried everything he could to stop the headaches, it claimed. Even killing had only provided a temporary out. He had no control over it, no way to stop the rage.

The allure of the voice grew stronger the more he stared at Anko and Gouzen. They were lost in Konoha, bereft of the place that had accepted and loved them. The voice...it told him that they _needed _him. He could no longer to surrender to anger, it said. He had others to care for. He had to make sure they were safe.

Yet the pain in his head grew and grew, gnawing at his skull like a ravenous wolf. He wanted to kill Gouzen and the Council and the chuunin and the nurse who had smiled at him and the baby in the exact same way…He wanted to bleed them dry and push them into the bowels of the earth forever.

But the whisper would not vanish within the pain. It only grew, like the first drizzle of rain that precedes the monsoon.

_Rain_, he thought amidst the inferno of his rage. _Cool, refreshing rain. Rain brings water, which is life. Rain is Ame. Ame is my rain, which gave me new life. The feeling of the rain upon my scorched skin as Konan carried me to safety…That feels so much better than this pain in my head._

Without knowing it, Naruto had closed his eyes. His mind wandered away from his rage, away from the satisfying thoughts of satiating the thirst of his wrath. It was if he'd left a burning forest and was now floating calmly upon clear waters. He still had burns that hurt and screamed for attention, but the water lapped at these wounds lovingly and whispered beautiful words into his ears. They were another being, full of intelligence and wisdom many thousands of years beyond his own.

_Kyuubi? _he wondered slowly.

Naruto suddenly realized his eyes were closed and tried to open them, but he found himself unable to. Or perhaps he was simply unwilling. This made him panic, yet the waters still caressed him and encouraged him to be calm. Calm…calm for Gouzen and Anko. Yes, Anko and Gouzen needed him to be calm so he could lead them to safety. They were cut off from their home and the people they loved. They needed someone to guide them back. Someone calm.

The headache gradually began to fade, eventually leaving only a dull aching that, while annoying, was still a great improvement over the pounding misery of before. In fact, it gave him a gentle beat with which to think and process the data of the situation. He was calm.

"Gouzen," Naruto began, his eyes still closed, "I can explain—"

"Explain what?" Gouzen shouted. "Explain how you were one of _them_ the entire time? Explain why our Leader chose you to lead our squad right into the hands of your own people? I should kill you!"

Naruto opened his eyes. The ferocity and hate in that voice left little doubt in his mind that Gouzen would do everything in his power to end him. That was good. It meant that Gouzen was serious about being an Ame nin and would be loyal to those who exhibited the same commitment.

"Calm down Gouzen!" Anko snapped. "Naruto had his reasons."

"So you knew?" Gouzen asked.

He seemed more hurt than angry, which only made what Naruto was going to try to do even more difficult. Still, it had to be done. He was going to need all the help he could get.

"Of course she knew," Naruto answered. "Anko and I have practically grown up together. If Anko hadn't known, however, I couldn't have told her about my past during this mission even if I'd wanted to."

Gouzen glared at Naruto suspiciously. Naruto saw intelligence in those eyes, much more than he ever would have given Gouzen credit for.

_Gouzen is focused_, Naruto realized. _He wants to understand my reasoning, so he's concentrating his mind on every detail to discern the truth. Therefore, any lie I tell him will be detected instantly. I'll have to resort to a half-truth. Still, I like this side of Gouzen. He showed it briefly in the Forest of Death when he killed that kunoichi spying on us, but I paid it no mind. Now, I can see potential within him. The only thing that's getting in his way is his temper._

"What do you mean, _Naruto_?" Gouzen asked with a sneer.

"I mean," Naruto replied, "that our Leader chose me _because _of my past as a Konoha nin. In other words, I was chosen because of my knowledge of Konoha's workings. Who better to help us adjust to Konoha?"

Naruto consciously referred to Pain as "our Leader". He did this because he was sensing from Gouzen's demeanor that part of his anger stemmed from doubts about Pain's plan. Naruto needed Pain to remain a god in Gouzen's mind. If this was done correctly, then Naruto could call on this idea of Pain to motivate Gouzen. He was also avoiding mentioning Pain because he had little doubt the entire room was bugged.

"How has this 'knowledge' helped us?" Gouzen countered. "We're trapped here!"

"Not you," Naruto said, earning a look of surprise from both Gouzen and Anko. "The Council has mandated that only I remain in Konoha. They have permitted Anko to stay with me as a token of their respect for my situation. You are free to go whenever you like. However," Naruto mustered every amount of authority he could and stared directly into Gouzen's eyes, "I would very much like it if you stayed to help me adjust. You are one of my dearest friends"

If surprise carried weight, it would have crushed Anko and Gouzen.

"Wha—" Gouzen began, but he was stopped by what Naruto did next.

For the briefest of moments, Naruto's eyes assumed the red sheen of his Kekkei Genkai. Then, they immediately reverted to their natural blue. If there was a chakra detection system in the room, the activation would have been too rapid for it to detect.

_Yet_, he thought, _it was slow enough that Gouzen and Anko, both of whom are right beside me and are used to my Kekkei Genkai, will notice. That, coupled with my odd description of Gouzen as a "dear friend", should clue them in that I'm concealing something. With any luck, they'll understand that I'm doing this because Konoha might be observing us right now. It's the safest way to pass on such information._

As Naruto had hoped, Gouzen's eyes widened slightly in realization. Naruto watched carefully as Gouzen adjusted his body language and facial expression to match that of a desperate and sorrowful boy. It was basic training for most shinobi to assume emotions and poses that were not their own in order to deceive their enemies. Veteran shinobi would be able to see through the act of a genin fairly easily, but if they were watching Gouzen from a screen and listening in through bugs in the wall (which Naruto had no doubt that they were), then they wouldn't be able to accurately detect any flaws in Gouzen's act. Furthermore, Naruto surmised that Gouzen really was feeling desperate and sorrowful, which added a touch of reality to the entire performance.

"You're right," Gouzen replied in a somber voice, "I can't just abandon you in this strange place. It wouldn't do our friendship justice. But," and now Gouzen assumed a more serious tone, "why couldn't you have told me? Would it really have been so bad for the mission?"

"How would you have reacted if you'd known?" Anko asked, her voice affected to fit the role she was playing. "To win in the Chuunin Exams, Naruto was picked because he understood at least a part of Konoha's system. That understanding was supposed to give us a better idea of what the Exams would be like. More than that, however, he needed to be our squad leader. He couldn't do that knowing that one of the members in his squad doubted him."

_Maneuvering around these bugs is proving tricky_, Naruto thought. _Anko's doing wonderfully, but I can tell that Gouzen sees through the generality of her answers. He might break character out of frustration. I must end this quickly._

"Listen," Naruto interrupted, drawing the attention of both Anko and Gouzen, "we'll have plenty of time to talk about this. But right now, I kind of want to sleep."

He grinned sheepishly, earning a glare from Gouzen. Within that glare, however, Naruto knew (or perhaps hoped) that Gouzen understood why they couldn't have this conversation here. It needed to be in a place beyond the eyes and ears of the Konoha government.

"Fine," Gouzen muttered.

Without another word, he turned on his heel and trudged out of the room, leaving Naruto alone with Anko.

"He's pretty mad at you," Anko whispered beside him.

Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but he suddenly felt very, very tired.

"I…I suppose," he mumbled.

The clarity of his thoughts vanished and with their passing came a weight heavier than anything he'd ever felt before. He collapsed onto his pillow and closed his eyes, allowing cool darkness to swallow him. He felt Anko affectionately rustle his hair, heard the sheets crinkle as she got up off the bed, and smelled her scent fade into the sanitized atmosphere of the hospital as she left the room entirely. When the door clicked shut behind her, Naruto fell asleep completely.

* * *

Sarutobi watched the screen for a few more seconds, half-wishing Naruto would suddenly sit up and explain exactly why he was here and what was going on in Ame. Of course, Naruto remained asleep and Sarutobi's questions remained unanswered.

"What a farce," Masahiro muttered.

Sarutobi glanced at the Takai Jounin that had spoken and frowned. Namaikina Masahiro was one of Sarutobi's top Takai Jounin, but the man's reservations – whether they be about speaking his mind or killing – were utterly absent.

"Why do you say that?" Sarutobi asked.

Masahiro straightened himself and assumed a face of deference and respect.

"Forgive me, Lord Hokage," he replied. "I was simply remarking on the transparency of the Ame nin's ploy. In my humble opinion, it is clear that these Ame nin are hiding something."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Hitode asked dryly, earning the laughter of the others standing at attention behind Sarutobi.

Masahiro narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.

"I agree with you, Masahiro," Sarutobi replied. "But will the Council? How would you prove this 'something' to them? These children have said nothing to implicate themselves."

"I…I do not know, my Lord," Masahiro answered.

"Then nothing can be done," Sarutobi said. "Because of Naruto's strong ties to Ame, it would be unwise of us to detain him without legal justification. We most certainly cannot implicate his teammates without just cause and even then it must be for the most extreme reasons."

"Could Ame actually be involved?" Mori Akira, one of the Takai Jounin that had been with Sarutobi in his battle against Orochimaru, asked.

"I doubt it," Maito Gai* replied, his normally exuberant face now somber and thoughtful. "Our relations with Ame haven't been exemplary, but they're far too weak militarily to ever turn on us."

"I would agree with Gai's assessment," another said.

"As would I," a third said.

Sarutobi placed his hands upon the top of his cane and then rested his chin on his weathered knuckles. He had always encouraged his elite to speak openly and frankly to him, though perhaps not as frank as Masahiro tended to be. He allowed them this honor because they had more than earned the right to it. That didn't mean they were beyond correction, however.

"You're all being far too hasty," Danzo's gruff voice interjected.

Sarutobi smiled.

"I have personal experience with Ame," Danzo continued, "and I understand how complicated their politics can be. When last we had contact with their leader, Hanzo, he was struggling to put down a revolt by a rebel group calling itself 'Akatsuki'. This was only months before the start of the War."

Sarutobi watched as the eyes of the Takai Jounin, including Masahiro and Gai, snapped onto Danzo.

"I have little doubt then," Danzo went on, "that Hanzo has finally died of old age or succumbed to this 'Akatsuki' and surrendered the leadership of Ame over to them."

"I find that unlikely," Masahiro retorted. "Hanzo was considered old even during the Third War, but he was still able to trounce the Legendary Sennin by himself. How could a group of rabble—"

"Not rabble," Danzo interrupted, silencing Masahiro immediately. "There was at least one among them who was immensely powerful and he was a mere boy at the time. It was he who decimated almost all of the ROOT members accompanying me and it was he who forced Hanzo himself to retreat. I have little doubt time has made him even more of a threat. This is a fact and we must accept it."

The only sound within the room was the quiet buzz of the screen showing Naruto sleeping. The bugs in the walls allowed Sarutobi to hear even the faintest rustle of the boy's sheets. It was amazing technology, to be sure, but Sarutobi thought there was something wrong in using it against a child…

"We all read the report, Lord Danzo," Hitode said after a time, "and we were all very impressed with your description of the boy's capabilities. However, there is a flaw in your theory. If Hanzo is indeed dead or exiled, why has there been absolutely no change in Ame's foreign policy towards _any _Nation? Besides that, we would have seen a massive emigration of Hanzo supporters out of the country if a rebellion had succeeded. In short, we would have seen the repercussions of a revolt by now."

"They could have all been killed," Akira suggested.

"Impossible," Masahiro said. "One cannot hope to kill every single member of an opposing force. The places they could hide are innumerable. However, even if this 'Akatsuki' did manage to somehow kill all of Hanzo's supporters, how were they able to provide so many troops during this last war? The Ame nin bunkered with our forces spoke of no new leader and they all possessed the training of a professional army, not a ragtag group of rebels. You would have thought some of Hanzo's troops would have died during a rebellion."

A few of the Jounin chuckled.

"Actually," Sarutobi said quietly, "Ame did not provide as many troops as they had in the past. In fact, their totals were less than a fourth of the average of the contributions from our other allies."

"But the reports said—"

"Those reports were false," Sarutobi explained with a sad smile. "We only noticed the inconsistency later when accurate head counts could be provided. It appears that Hanzo was having too much trouble to spare the required number of troops. Given our success in the war at the time, I had found the deception irrelevant to our war effort as a whole. I had instead intended to ignore the matter altogether in order preserve relations with Ame. With the suspicious activity of Naruto and his teammates, however, I think it deserves a little more looking into."

"Why wouldn't they have asked for help?" Gai asked.

"They did," Sarutobi answered. "Hence why I sent Danzo and ROOT to Hanzo's aid. They were defeated and before we could provide further aid, we were at war."

He waited for a response. When Gai and Masahiro, the two most vocal critics, bowed their heads in acquiescence, he stood up to give orders to his Jounin. However, Fumihiko, Takai Jounin and head of Konoha's sensors, spoke before he could address them.

"My Lord," he began, "there is also the matter of the sensors' report."

Sarutobi scowled at the interruption, but nodded for the normally quiet man to continue.

"We analyzed Naruto's chakra the moment he stepped into the chakra seal during the trial," Fumihiko said. "The results were…surprising, to say the least. The boy's chakra network is more intricate than any I've seen before, as if it had been connected and combined to another's."

"The Kyuubi's?" Sarutobi suggested.

"That would have been my guess, Lord Hokage," Fumihiko answered, "if the Kyuubi were still present within Naruto."

The room seemed to stop, frozen in that moment where the plan that had been so carefully crafted for months appeared undone. Despite years upon years of training, most of the Takai Jounin's faces became fearful.

"How could it be gone?" Sarutobi asked, his face hard as stone. "Shouldn't Naruto be dead if the Kyuubi has been removed?"

Fumihiko nodded.

"Indeed he should, my Lord," he answered, "but, as I mentioned earlier, Naruto's chakra network appears to have combined and _connected _with that of another. Meaning—"

"—that Naruto is still connected to the Kyuubi," Sarutobi finished.

Inwardly, his mind reeled with the possibilities that Naruto's unique state opened up.

_According to Hakken's Law_, Sarutobi thought, _the chakra networks of two individual humans are incompatible with one another. This was demonstrated by Hakken's experiments on how the chakra networks of two shinobi reacted to the use of jutsu: they were undeniably dissimilar and when both shinobi tried to "unify" their chakra networks by continuously transferring chakra to one another and then casting jutsu at the same time, both experienced severe pain and the jutsu failed. Though this does not stop one from giving chakra to another individual, it prevents one from combining the power of one's chakra with another to enhance the potency of a jutsu. This was the same regardless of the distance between the shinobi. However, Jinchuriki are different. They are connected to another chakra network from birth and the chakra networks of Bijuu, which are naturally abundant in both energy and adaptability, allow for Jinchuriki to utilize chakra from both the Bijuu's network and their own. What if the chakra of a Bijuu could still be connected to its Jinchuriki even over long distances? We would have heard - or sensed - something if the Kyuubi had been freed, so it cannot be in this world. But, Naruto's chakra is still connected to that of the Kyuubi, which means that it's alive_ _somewhere_…_and__ that Naruto might have access to it and its power. _

Sarutobi nodded to himself. Naruto displayed inhuman abilities during his match against Neji. Furthermore, no shinobi in recorded history had ever mentioned anything similar to the "issui" that Naruto described. Indeed, scientists had been coming before Sarutobi to beg to inspect and test Naruto's Kekkei Genkai.

_Neither Minato nor Kushina's family ever possessed any such ability_, he thought, _which could mean that Naruto is lying and his Kekkei Genkai is from the Kyuubi. I must find out._

With this in mind, Sarutobi addressed his Takai Jounin.

"Naruto and his teammates are to be watched," Sarutobi commanded, "but no action will be taken against them. Not until sufficient evidence is gathered, at the very least. If Naruto still retains a connection to the Kyuubi, then we can still uncover its location. As for Ame, I want scouts sent there immediately. We'll do this the usual way. Akira will head the scouting effort. Masahiro and Fumihiko, continue your tests on Yugito and Gaara. Bring Yasahiro in if need be. Hanako and…why are you still wearing that mustache Sachihiro?"

The small, youthful face of Shiawase Sachihiro, known under his alias as the bumbling doctor Shinsetsuna Tsukisasu, broke into a bashful grin beneath the wispy mustache he'd used as a disguise to talk to that female teammate of Naruto's.

"My apologies, Lord Hokage," Sachihiro said, whipping the mustache off with a quick and fluid motion. "I took a liking to it, I suppose."

Sarutobi smirked and replied, "You'll have to keep wearing it, I imagine. Continue your surveillance of Naruto and his teammates alongside Hanako."

"Try not to mess up," Hanako mumbled.

In a magnificent display of eloquence and intellect, Sachihiro stuck his tongue out at her.

"The rest of you," Sarutobi went on, "will continue with your normal duties. Konoha must be in working order if our plans are to be put in motion. Danzo, I want you to have Jiraiya prepare Orochimaru. Kakashi, you will be given command over Naruto's team as well as Team 7."

Kakashi had been silent throughout the entire meeting, his one eye trained onto the screen depicting Naruto. He hadn't even flinched at the news that Naruto no longer had the Kyuubi within him. This worried Sarutobi. If he was to persuade Naruto to stay in Konoha, he would need Kakashi's full commitment.

"I want Naruto to think of Konoha as a home once again," Sarutobi said directly to Kakashi. "The only people I know that are capable of that are you and the members of Team 7. If ever you require anything from me, do not hesitate to ask."

"Yes, Lord Hokage," Kakashi answered quickly.

Sarutobi noted the blank tone of Kakashi's voice, but decided to ignore it. The only thing that could help Kakashi was time.

"You all have your assignments," he concluded. "You are dismissed."

"_Hai, Hokage-sama._"

* * *

The gentle _clink _of metal objects rubbing against each other invaded Naruto's mind. The sound elicited memories of nights spent under dark storms and chilly nights, where only the warmth of your fire and the cheer of your companions could keep you from freezing to death. Such memories always filled Naruto with a fuzzy sense of contentment.

_Why did I think of those times? _he wondered suddenly. _That had nothing to do with that sound from earlier. _

This thinking was usual for Naruto, of course. Constant mental leaps from memories to feelings to sensations, with only the barest of similarities between them, was how he thought. He couldn't help it.

His mind inevitably wandered back to the clarity he'd experienced the previous night. It had been a strange and amazing state of being, but Naruto didn't understand it all. It wasn't a "mode" or some new form of his Kekkei Genkai, which could have rules and limits applied to them. His mind had suddenly and inexplicably started operating on a higher level, thinking and calculating thoughts and sensations faster than ever before. Had it been stress caused by the Council's decision that had prompted such lucidity? Perhaps it had been the shock of Gouzen discovering his true identity. He didn't know or understand and he was far too groggy to think about it any further.

Naruto flipped onto his back and opened his eyes to the new day. He arched his spine like a cat, stretching muscles and joints that had become stiff during the night. Once this was done, he collapsed back onto the inviting comfort of his bed sheets.

"Ahhhh," he moaned. "So comfy…"

There was a knock on the door. Naruto tilted his head up to get a better look at the idiot with the gall to disturb his nap.

The door didn't open, however. Another knock.

"Come in," Naruto shouted.

He was getting frustrated. Why couldn't he just sleep…?

With a gentle _click_, the door swung inward and to the side, revealing a young nurse carrying a metal tray filled with food and drink. Naruto realized the tray had been the source of the metal sound in his dream.

"Good morning!" the woman called out with a beatific smile.

Naruto smiled weakly.

"Morning," he mumbled.

"I've prepared your breakfast, Uzumaki-san," the nurse told him as she set the tray down on the table next to his bed. "Just like always!"

_Oh right_, Naruto thought.

During his week-long stay at the hospital, this one nurse had taken a bit of a liking to him. Naruto didn't know why she found him particularly interesting, but her skill with cooking more than quelled any curiosity he had about her reasoning.

_I guess yesterday's events kind of put her out of my head_, Naruto realized. _Since this is my last day, I should at least thank her. Now what was her name…_

"Umm, Akeno?"

The nurse didn't respond, until she noticed Naruto's eyes on her.

"Did you say something, Uzumaki-san?"

Naruto's face faulted.

_She's so kind! _he thought. _I'm such an idiot for forgetting her name. What was it…Akemi!_

"I was letting you know, Akemi," he began, placing special emphasis upon her name, "that I'm very grateful for all you've done for me. It's…rare for people to display such kindness to someone like me."

"Oh you don't have to thank me!" she exclaimed, her delicate eyebrows arching upwards in surprise. "It is my honor to help you in any way I can."

Naruto stared at her, dumbfounded by her enthusiasm.

"Why?" he asked perhaps a little too bluntly.

Akemi looked at him quizzically.

"Well…" she replied, as if what she was saying was common knowledge, "you saved a lot of people during the Invasion. That _Gaara_," her pretty face became contorted with anger and disgust, "could have killed a lot of people who were still near the arena, including my parents. You and your team stopped him. Sooo," she smiled warmly, "I think you've earned a few good breakfasts!"

Her eyes, a strange hue of brown with striking green flecks dotted throughout, locked onto his own. Naruto blushed and chuckled nervously.

"Well, thank you," he mumbled, embarrassed by her compliment. "I mean – wait, do you know what I am?"

_She's from Konoha_, Naruto thought. _She has to know._

"Know what?" Akemi asked quizzically.

Naruto was stunned. Didn't she know about the Kyuubi and the fact that he was a Jinchuriki?

"Y'know," he said a little more insistently, "_what _I am…the whole, um…you seriously don't know?"

Akemi cocked her head in confusion, her eyes dancing with thought.

"I mean, you're a shinobi," she began slowly. "Is there something else to it?"

She suddenly blushed.

"Oh you must think I'm such an idiot!" she said with an embarrassed giggle. "Wait, are you famous or something? But you're like ten! But what if you _are_ famous?"

Naruto's eye twitched ever so slightly at the remark about his age. Inwardly, however, his mind quickly began processing this new information.

_She really doesn't know_, Naruto realized. _Could it be that she's too young to remember? But she's older than me. Wait…_

"Um, Akemi?" Naruto asked. "You've lived in Konoha all your life, right?"

Akemi seemed a little taken aback by the suddenness of the question, but answered nonetheless.

"No," she replied. "My parents and I moved here a couple years ago, just after the war. There were new positions opening up all across the city and, well, we couldn't pass that up, y'know?"

"Are…are there a lot of families like yours?" he asked. "I mean, one's that have moved to Konoha recently?"

"Hundreds," she responded. "Yeah, there was like a huge influx of people into Konoha after the war. It was kinda chaotic and jobs were hard to come by. In fact, there was this one guy…"

Naruto tuned her out.

_Immigrants_, he thought, _which means new people who don't know about the Kyuubi and it's Jinchuriki. Who don't know about me, in other words._

"…and he ended up falling off a scaffold and splitting his head open on a carving knife lying next to this wedding cake," Akemi finished.

Naruto blinked.

"Wait, what?"

Akemi giggled mischievously.

"I wanted to see if you were paying attention or not," she admitted with a sly smile.

Blushing, Naruto replied, "Sorry. I guess I'm just a little tired."

"No worries," Akemi said cheerfully. "You've got a big day, I hear, so it's good for you to reserve your strength."

"Yeah, I – what do you mean 'a big day'?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I forgot to tell you. The secretary told me to give you," she reached into one of the pockets in her dress and pulled out a small summoning scroll, "this. She said it's from your sensei. She said that he said," she giggled, "that the scroll's got some new clothes for you to wear. Yours are still being mended apparently. He also left some new gear at the secretary's desk. No weapons allowed up here, y'know? I think he told the secretary that it's for training. By the way…is your sensei _the _Hatake Kakashi?"

Naruto looked at the summoning scroll with a mixture of anxiety and anger. The prospect of training with his old teammates sent his stomach into knots.

"Yeah," Naruto replied absentmindedly, "he's my sensei."

"That's so cool!" Akemi exclaimed. "He's one of the Takai, right? The elite? You have no idea how much I'd like to meet one of them. And you're his _student_! Wow…Hey, do you think you can get him to come by some time? Y'know, for an autograph?"

Naruto glanced at her in mild surprise.

"Sure," he muttered.

"Oh, thank you! This means so much to me!"

She beamed at him, her very being radiating joy. Naruto was not sharing in this joy, however. In fact, his feelings bordered more along the lines of misery and agonizing emotional torment that stemmed from abandonment issues.

"Well," Akemi said finally, "I'll leave you to it. Thanks so much for promising to get _Hatake Kakashi_ to stop by! Hey, you should come by too! You were one of my best patients."

She smiled at him once more and then carried the tray out of the room. When the door clicked shut behind her, Naruto sighed and activated the summoning scroll.

* * *

Once Akemi had reached the end of the hall and turned the corner into the next hallway, she set the tray down on a nearby table and poked her head around to watch Naruto's door. As she did so, her appearance began to gradually change. Her cheerful young face lengthened and became the picture of sophistication and beauty as her frame became taller and more elegant. The brown hair tied into a ponytail darkened and formed elegant shadows around her face. The only things that remained the same were her striking eyes.

Tanoshii Hanako watched on as her mark, Uzumaki Naruto, opened the door to his room and began trudging away.

_Such a sweet kid_, she thought, remembering how polite he'd been. _I almost can't believe he's killed before._

Hanako frowned slightly. One of the "perks" that came with being a Takai Jounin, or anyone experienced enough to attain the rank of Jounin, was the sickening ability to recognize other killers. Naruto, though bedridden and weak, had watched her with predatory eyes upon their first meeting. He probably hadn't even known that he'd been sizing her up for the kill in case she'd proven to be a threat.

_A child killer_, she pondered. _You don't see many of those in Konoha anymore. Except for Sachihiro, of course. I wonder if Hokage-sama is right to want him to come back. Do we really need an unstable Jinchuriki?_

She sighed as she watched Naruto continued to walk down the hall, his hands constantly fidgeting with the hems of his new clothes.

It didn't matter if she agreed or not with the Hokage. Her mission had been to butter Naruto up a bit and emphasize how much Konoha had changed from the bigoted place that it had been before he'd disappeared.

_Then_, she thought, _Kakashi and Team 7 will use their past relationship with Naruto to warm him up even further. Team 7 will not know of the ultimate reason for this. Finally, Hitode will constantly monitor Naruto, while also setting himself up as a likable person that the boy can relate to. _

The plan ran off in Hanako's mind with machine-like speed and efficiency. The goal of the mission was for Naruto to return to Konoha of his own free will. The reasons why were irrelevant, save that Naruto was a powerful weapon that Konoha could use. If he didn't, then he would die and the Kyuubi would be found another way. End of story.

Hanako waited until Naruto turned the corner at the end of the hallway. When he was out of her physical sight, she disappeared in a blur.

* * *

Naruto tugged at the collar of his shirt in discomfort. The fabric felt too soft and slippery on his skin. He was used to the rough and water-resistant clothing of Ame.

A breeze suddenly passed around his legs, chilling them instantly. He shivered. Most Ame nin kept the majority of their bodies covered to protect themselves from the freezing rain (except for Anko apparently). The thin t-shirt and pants he'd been given hardly served the same purpose. The shirt also completely went against Naruto's color palette.

_I like black_, Naruto thought. _It makes me feel dark and mysterious…and a little angst… But it's still cool! _

Naruto sighed. Maybe wearing all-black clothes was a little juvenile. Still, it was better than a red shirt with blue _flames _on it. He needed a new one as quickly as possible. As for the pants, they were actually pretty decent. Just simple cloth dyed a dark blue. They were also fairly loose and swooshy, granting Naruto nearly as much mobility as his hakama had provided him.

_These sandals aren't bad either_, he thought with a wiggle of his toes. _Nice, comfy, and unassuming._

He walked down a flight of stairs, impressed by their cleanliness, and soon reached the lobby of the hospital. Just as it had been when he'd returned from his trial with Hitode, every seat in the massive room was full of the sick and elderly. It was a stark change from the pristine atmosphere of his room. The very air crept into his lungs as if it was stale and dying.

Curling his lips in disdain, Naruto quickly made for the large counter which the secretary sat behind. She noticed his blond locks and strange shirt almost immediately.

"Can I help you sir?" she asked politely, though her eyes kept darting to the flames on his shirt.

Naruto glowered at her.

"I didn't pick it out," he growled.

The nurse's plump and friendly face became red with embarrassment and she quickly replied, "O-of course not sir. Um, do you need anything?"

"I believe my sensei left some gear here for me," Naruto answered, his anger over his shirt slightly mollified by her apology.

"Ah yes!" she exclaimed. "Hatake Kakashi? He did leave certain paraphernalia here. I'm sure you understand why we couldn't bring it up to you."

"Of course."

"That's good," she said. "Most shinobi become frustrated with our rules, but the safety of the other patients must come first, don't you agree?"

"Indeed."

The nurse smiled appreciatively at him as she opened a drawer beneath her desk and retrieved a slip of paper.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at the paper.

"Where are my weapons?" he asked.

"At the armory," the nurse replied. "You didn't think we'd keep weapons in a hospital, did you?"

She chuckled and handed him the slip. He quickly scanned it for any chakra before picking it up. Finding none, he read what had been imprinted upon it.

_A basic order form_, he realized. _Akemi hadn't been lying when she said "new" gear. They must've taken all of my stuff, including my sword and tanto. Maybe it's at the armory, but I doubt it._

"Thank you," he said as he gently waved the slip. "I'll be sure to put these to good use."

She smiled at him and returned to whatever work she'd been doing before he'd talked to her.

Turning on his heel, Naruto headed for the door of the hospital. He played with the paper in his hand distractedly.

_If I assume that Konoha took my weapons_, he thought, _then the question becomes why they took them. My idiocy during the Finals no doubt piqued their curiosity about my Kekkei Genkai. Maybe they think my gear is connected to it somehow. _

Naruto smirked as he pushed the door to the outside world open.

There was no connection. The wind that he'd nearly killed Neji with had had a great deal to do with his Kekkei Genkai. He'd manipulated the wind with _issui _to form that sword shape. He'd then used his own sword as a way to guide the wind down upon Neji. But that was all the sword had been: a guide, a device the sole purpose of which had been to manipulate the stronger gusts of wind that his jutsu could produce. In reality, any blade of similar size and shape would do.

As he shut the door to the hospital, rays of sunlight shined upon him. He grimaced and squinted his eyes. The light inside the hospital had been far dimmer. Nevertheless, he could still make out the massive buildings of Konoha that surrounded the hospital. The streets and roads that curved around these buildings were full of color and life. Naruto remembered hearing from Akemi a few days ago about how the only battle that had taken place inside the city had been between the Sandaime and Orochimaru. He took this to mean that the damage to the buildings should have been was incredibly high. However, Naruto could see no signs of damage in the immediate vicinity.

"Nice shirt."

Naruto looked down a bit to get a better view at who was speaking to him. It was Anko and she was wearing a mischievous grin on her face. Gouzen, absent his bandages, stood behind her. He made no indication that Naruto had arrived, but Naruto could tell he was very much aware of his presence by the way his body had tensed when Anko had addressed him. Both of them, Naruto noticed indignantly, were wearing perfectly normal clothes.

"I thought flames went out of style with the Fourth Hokage," Anko continued. "Trying to bring 'em back?"

Naruto scowled.

"I didn't want it," he uttered. "_They _picked it out for me."

Anko chuckled.

"Whatever," she replied. "So, what do we do now? Sightseeing maybe?"

Before Naruto could reply with a quip of his own, a flash of pink hair from across the street caught his eye. All humor and laughter gone from his mind, Naruto squinted so he could get a better view of the owner of said hair. As he had guessed, it was Sakura. To make matters worse, Sasuke and Tadashii were with her.

Anko and Gouzen turned towards where Naruto was looking. Anko glared and positioned herself at Naruto's side. Gouzen's entire demeanor darkened considerably, but he remained where he stood.

"What do you want to do?" Anko asked.

Naruto began breathing hard. The very sight of Sakura and Sasuke reminded Naruto of what was to come: a return to Konoha and to those who had left him behind. He'd been groggy and shocked when they appeared by his bedside all the days ago, but he hadn't known what he did now. He hadn't known that he'd be rejoining them, rejoining Team 7.

He needed to be calm and think of a plan, but Sakura and Sasuke's faces swirled around him like a cyclone of emotional torment. He didn't want to be around them. He didn't want to live in Konoha. He didn't want to leave Ame where he was loved and had a purpose that was his own. Pressure fueled by rage and frustration built up inside his skull, pounding and pounding in a fierce attempt to free itself and spill the blood of hundreds upon the ground. He wanted everything to _die_.

_He was floating in a clear pool of water. It was cool and refreshing, kissing his burnt flesh with gentle lips. He was floating…floating…_

Naruto stopped breathing, stopped moving. It was the same presence as before, as beautiful and serene as the rumbling gray skies of Ame. It soothed him, cooled the agonizing fires of his rage. He wanted to sink forever into those majestic waters.

The pressure faded and in its place came the clarity that had guided Naruto before. He exhaled and set his mind into motion.

"They're going to lead us to training," he said. "We'll follow along and get a sense of what Konoha expects us to do, then we'll work from there. Are you two okay with that? Gouzen?"

Anko frowned in uncertainty, but nodded all the same. Gouzen did not look at Naruto, but neither did he move. Naruto took this as a sign that he agreed with the plan so far.

"Remember to be calm," Naruto whispered more to himself than anybody else as Sakura and Sasuke approached.

Naruto forced his face into a warm smile and waved at Team 7 cheerfully.

* * *

Tadashii's very manner reeked of ill tidings when he strutted up to Gouzen, looked him square in the eye, and sneered, ""Looks like all the Ame brats are finally rested up! Done hiding under your sheets like frightened cowards?"

The roads bustled with carriages full of Konoha's aristocracy, while peasants working on the restoration of the grounds outside Konoha's walls bore beams, axes, and picks across streets lined with numerous merchants and vendors. The very air seemed to vibrate with shouts of sales and "amazing offers" on fruits, vegetables, and other necessities.

Sakura, Sasuke, and Tadashii had plowed through this mass with ease, suggesting to Naruto that they had become used to the flurry of activity in the city. This had apparently given Tadashii the confidence to confront Naruto and his teammates right off the bat. In Naruto's calm state of mind, he recognized how pathetic the taunting was and ignored it. But Naruto could feel the anger radiating off of Gouzen and worried that a situation would arise.

"What did you say?" Gouzen growled, all but confirming Naruto's fears.

Tadashii's eyes were those of a predator as he drew even closer to Gouzen.

"You heard me," Tadashii whispered venomously, "Ame _trash_."

Naruto tensed when he felt Gouzen's chakra expand drastically.

"Tadashii!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Didn't Naruto beat the shit out of you?" Anko drawled with a wry smile, ignoring Sakura's attempt at ameliorating the situation.

Naruto frowned and sent a sharp look at Anko.

_Focus Anko_, Naruto thought. _Yes you diffused the situation between Gouzen and Tadashii, but we don't need you to start another fight._

Tadashii swerved towards Anko, his face a dark portrait of rage. Naruto noticed Gouzen's hand clench into a fist at his side.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Tadashii shouted. "The only reason he beat me was because he was a coward, like all you pathetic Ame! It was you who left us to die at Akai Oka!"

_Akai Oka_, Naruto realized. _Of course! The Battle of Akai Oka occurred along the border of Iwa and Kusa. Konoha had requested Ame support for a push into Iwa territory. Pain told me that he had found out when rebels intercepted one of the messengers going back and forth between Hanzo and Konoha. Pain, seeing how he could hurt Hanzo's standing with Konoha and strike a direct blow to the loyalist movement, led a direct assault on Hanzo's main weapons supply base, the Omona Buki. This forced Hanzo to keep most of his forces within Ame to defend the Omona Buki, which left only a handful of troops to aid Konoha. When Konoha forces were ambushed by a large garrison of Iwa and Kumo troops stationed within the mountains near the border, that paltry sum of soldiers could do little to help them. The sheer number of Konoha troops slain in that battle earned the area the nickname "Akai Oka" or "Red Hills" due to the blood of the dead. Tadashii must have lost someone there whom he'd held very dear. That explains why he's always calling Ame nin "cowards". _

"What?" Anko, ignorant of the reasons behind Tadashii's brutish behavior, demanded mockingly. "You're upset because we didn't cover for you when you guys failed to hold your own damn line? Wow. I thought you were just an annoying prick, but here I find you're a whiny little cunt who can't get over the fact that Konoha just ain't as 'wonderful' as you thought."

If Gouzen's chakra had been heavy, Tadashii's was monstrous. Naruto thought he could see the very air around the boy shimmer with furious energy. Judging by the way Sasuke was tensing his body, he appeared to have noticed as well.

_No one else does, however_, Naruto realized with a quick glance at the others around him. _They're all too absorbed in the conflict to notice Tadashii's chakra._

Naruto felt his heart beat a little faster due to an increase in adrenaline. He rapidly analyzed Tadashii's body language, studied the way his right arm was bending back ever so slightly. Naruto prepared to attack.

"You…you _bitch!_"

Tadashii lunged at Anko, fist drawn back to smash her face into the ground. Before he could even make contact, however, Sasuke wrapped his arms under Tadashii's armpits to hold him back while Naruto ducked below Tadashii's right haymaker and slammed his elbow into the boy's gut. Tadashii twitched from the impact, gasped, and then crumpled in Sasuke's arms.

Passerby on the streets stopped and stared at Sasuke holding Tadashii's motionless body. Naruto could tell from their chakra that they were afraid, possibly even wondering if they should call shinobi guards over.

Sasuke wrapped Tadashii's arm around his neck, leaned the larger boy against his body, and then glanced at Naruto.

"Nice reflexes," he remarked with a smirk. "It almost makes me want to think you've improved or something."

Naruto debated whether or not to grin. He wanted Sakura and Sasuke to trust him, but he couldn't be obvious about it. If he suddenly reverted to his old "baka" persona, people would get suspicious. Instead, he needed to win them over gradually. And people were still staring at them.

Shrugging, he replied, "I suppose. Will they be a problem?"

\He motioned with his head at the onlookers.

Sasuke glanced at them and frowned slightly.

"I doubt it," Sakura answered blankly. "They'll probably just think it was a little scuffle and move on."

_She's mad we didn't resolve the situation peacefully_, Naruto thought, recognizing the slight edge in her voice. _Sakura never did like violence, which is odd considering the profession she's entering. I'll have to make sure Anko doesn't set her off. I'll also have to make sure _I _don't set her off._

He smiled humorlessly at this last thought.

"I'll take Tadashii back to his place and tell his parents he had a training accident," Sasuke said. "We can meet up at the armory."

"That's fine with me," Sakura replied. "After that we—oh, are you guys okay with that? Tadashii was being a jerk, so if you want to hold off on the t—".

"We're not children," Gouzen sneered. "A little taunting won't make us start crying or somethin'."

Sakura appeared taken aback by the venom in Gouzen's voice, while Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Naruto grimaced. Was it sad that shinobi who were allies couldn't even be kind to each other without giving offense?

_Perhaps I can move things along_, he thought.

"So," he said with a great deal of forced cheer, "when do we begin?"

Naruto subtly stepped between Sasuke and Gouzen as he spoke.

"A little training might go a long way in alleviating some of this tension," he continued. "Sasuke can meet us at the armory, like you said, and then we can head on over to the old training ground—"

"We're not training today," Sasuke interrupted, his eyes never leaving Gouzen's. "Kakashi-sensei ordered us to give you guys a tour of Konoha."

_This poses a problem_, Naruto thought with a quick blink of his eyes.

"What?" Anko shouted. "Why the hell do we need a tour? I've been cooped up in that damn hospital for over a week and I need something to pummel!"

Sakura pursed her lips, presumably at Anko's mention of pummeling.

"I don't know about him," she answered with a glance towards Gouzen, "but both you and Naruto will be spending a lot of time in Konoha, Anko-san. You need to know how to get somewhere by yourself in case there's an emergency that requires shinobi attention. Again, he doesn't have to if he's not staying. If he is, however, I would suggest that he accompany us so as to get a better idea of the city layout."

_Her voice has become so formal and clipped_, Naruto realized. _Already our relationship is strained. I need to talk to Anko and Gouzen about their behavior. We won't get anything done otherwise. Unfortunately, we'll have to endure this tour before we'll have a chance to discuss the situation in private._

As for Gouzen, Naruto knew instantly that he should take part in the tour. Gouzen needed to feel like a part of the team, if not necessarily this new Team 7. By having Gouzen act like there was no doubt that he was going to say, Naruto was increasing the likelihood that he would truly stay. Of course, another argument could break out and Gouzen could leave Konoha at once.

_Better than letting him dwell on his anger while he's by himself_, Naruto told himself.

"I would very much like it if my entire team stayed," Naruto replied. "Gouzen will come with us. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Naruto glanced at his angry teammate and found Gouzen to be staring at him with a mixed look of suspicion and…gratitude.

"Very well," Sakura replied. "Before we head to the armory, however, we're going to make a few other stops."

A small smile appeared on her face when she glanced at Naruto's shirt.

"The tailor, for starters," she continued. "And…"

Her eyes traveled up to Naruto's hair.

"…the barber."

Naruto had been paying most of his attention to Gouzen, but he did catch the word "barber". Anko's snickering also helped.

"I'm sorry?" he asked.

"You're getting a haircut," Sakura said, mirth beginning to appear on her face.

In that instant, Naruto's clarity and rapid thinking temporarily devolved into sheer and utter horror.

"No!" he squealed in dismay as he lovingly grabbed hold of his golden locks. "It took me years to grow this! I-I won't let you!"

Sakura couldn't help but let out a giggle. Even Sasuke and Gouzen appeared amused.

"This isn't funny!" Naruto exclaimed.

"It's too long," Sakura told him, grinning all the while. "An enemy could just grab it and pin you. Look, I even cut mine. Remember how long it was?"

Naruto ignored her as she demonstrated her (fashionably) short hair.

"B-but," he began, "I really _like _it. Anko, you like it like this, right? I mean, your hair's long."

Anko struggled to repress a grin.

"But mine's in a ponytail," she pointed out. "Yours is all over the place like…like a mop!"

Naruto stared at her, horrified.

"That settles it," Sakura announced. "Haircut time."

Her entire demeanor practically dripping good cheer, Sakura wrapped her arm under his and began dragging him across the bustling road.

"You'll thank us for this," Sakura told him happily. "The moment I saw you walk out of that hospital I just knew you needed something, oh I dunno, _different_. This will be great. The barber there, Yuuto, is wonderful…"

As Sakura rambled on about her times spent in the salon, Naruto allowed himself to be dragged across the cobbled roads and streets with a crushed expression on his face.

* * *

**A/N****: **So concludes "Contemplation". This last part about the hair was simply for the sake of humor (plus, now I'm starting to think that silky long hair just isn't Naruto's style). It doesn't mean Naruto will be all friendly and loving towards Team 7 again. As for the crack about all-black clothes, I also feel that they're a little too generic. Tons of Naruto fanfics have him wearing all-black clothes while he stops enemies with his sword of almighty-ness (which is also black). By the way, the shirt Naruto was wearing is a play off of the coat that canon Naruto wore in his fight against Pain (which I found to be a little lame lol).

Also, someone messaged me and asked if Gouzen knew about Naruto's true identity and the reason they were trying to capture Gaara. The answer is no on both counts, but the question was fair. This is because in Chapter 8, I think, I accidentally had Gouzen address Naruto as "Naruto" instead of "Jinkoumaru". This was a simple typo that I've since corrected. I just want to make sure everyone is on the same page :).

I think the biggest question most of you will have will be about how Naruto dealt with his anger and the mental abilities this method "gave" him. Naruto always had these abilities. His anger was simply blocking them out with selfish and primitive thoughts. This isn't "…and Naruto suddenly became calm and mature", however. This is going to be a step-by-step process where Naruto will gradually learn how to control and diminish the hold his anger has over him. You'll also notice that Naruto thinks about Ame when he becomes calm. This is intentional, because I feel Naruto associates Ame with the love and happiness that he was deprived of when living in Konoha.

As for whom the "mysterious presence" in Naruto's mind is, I'll give you this hint: it definitely isn't the Yondaime as some of you might be expecting and it isn't necessarily the Kyuubi. Naruto merely guessed that it was the Kyuubi.

Besides that, let me know what I did right and how I can improve upon what I did wrong. I think my biggest concern is the pace at which I set Naruto's introduction to this new form of thinking. However, I feel that I realistically portrayed Naruto's anxiety about being thrust back into Konoha, as well as how his responsibility to Gouzen and Anko serves as a motivator for Naruto to ignore his anger and focus on what needs to be done. Again, let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Oramo

*I'm assuming Gai-sensei's last name is "Maito".


	23. Contrivances

**A/N****: **It has been a while, hasn't it? Yeah…I know. Well, that ends here. This is the first of a set of chapters I'm submitting that'll finish off the Part I timeline of _Naze?_. I hope everyone enjoys it, but I'm well aware that a few of you will find problems with it. I urge you to let me know about these so I can correct them and, more importantly, learn from them.

So, without further ado, I present Chapter 23 ("Author's Note" and "I'm Back" not included) of _Naze?_, titled "Contrivances".

* * *

_Contrivances _

Everything was too clean. The overly bright floors and walls, the starch-stiff sheets that she lay upon, the stale and sanitized air which clung to the insides of her nostrils like the last bits of flesh on a corpse, the metal prongs pulling open her eyelids so that she could not blink, the man in his immaculate white robe staring at her with curious eyes…

Pain flared up within her eyes and she squealed.

_Not again_, she thought. _Stop it, stop it, stop it!_

Tears replaced her rage and the pain subsided. She'd figured out the trick to silencing it a while ago, but her eyes always remained – had the man called them "active"? They were always "active" until she went to sleep. Then the lights disappeared. But when she awoke and became angry and lost, they returned and tormented her.

She didn't know how long she'd been here. All she could remember was fighting in the Finals. Then darkness. Sweet, peaceful darkness. She thought that maybe it'd been a genjutsu, but now she couldn't—

"A little longer dear," the man told her. "Then we'll be done and you can rest. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Yugito glanced up at the man from her prone position on the bed. She tried to make out his face, but her eyes, her wretched eyes! Everything was radiant and flowing as if she were staring into the heart of the sun itself. She hated the Nibi. She hated the man. She _hated_.

Her eyes exploded in agony. She couldn't take it. She couldn't resist the temptation to collapse and give in. She began to sob.

"I think that will be all for today."

The man's words were a jumble of sounds to Yugito. Why wasn't Kaida here to protect her? Ikazuchi? Kizoku-sensei? Had they left her or had Konoha killed them? Regardless, it was her fault. They'd seen her eyes.

"I hate them!" she snarled out loud, sending tears flying from her face.

The man was by her side in an instant.

"Whom do you hate?" he asked.

She stared at him desperately. All she could see was light. Even when he was right next to her, she could discern only an outline of his face.

"My eyes!" she shouted. "Why do they hurt?"

The man stroked her cheek affectionately.

"Darling child…" he murmured. After a moment, he asked, "Do you truly wish them gone?"

"Yes!" she screamed. "I don't want them anymore! Can you take them out? Please?"

He smiled at her and the radiance of that smile filled with her such hope that the pain almost disappeared. Almost.

"We're doing our very best, my dear," he whispered kindly. "Very soon, you'll never have to worry about them again."

* * *

Naruto scrutinized his hair intensely. He ran his eyes over every strand, every tuft that waved gently in the breeze flowing through the barber shop's open window. Sakura had been right about this Yuuto. He was a damn good barber.

_Doesn't mean I like being forced to get my hair cut_, he grumbled inwardly.

Still, he had to admit the hair made him look…well, he looked different and it wasn't in a bad way. The strands of hair that had once draped across his shoulders now stopped a little over an inch above the nape of his neck in the back, while the sides extended only to the top of his cheekbone. His bangs were also a little shorter, though not as short as Naruto had feared. All in all, he didn't look that bad.

"It's not spiky anymore," he heard Sakura mutter behind him.

He suddenly felt her hand pass through his hair. Naruto twitched, causing her to withdraw in a start.

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "It's just that, y'know, you always had spiky hair. I kind of miss it."

Naruto turned around and looked at her sorrowfully.

"Sakura, I—"

Before he could finish, the door to the shop burst open, revealing an annoyed Anko.

"Are you done yet?" she demanded.

When she caught sight of his new cut, she cocked her head and analyzed it with intense eyes.

"You don't look as much like a girl," she said finally. Naruto promptly fell out of his chair in dismay.

Naruto soon left the shop with Sakura and Anko. Yuuto was a nice enough fellow, though his prices belied a certain avarice that annoyed Naruto. Sakura didn't seem to notice, however, for she talked about him the entire way to their next stop.

_If I had to guess_, he thought with a wistful smile, _I_ _think Sakura has a bit of a crush on him. _

Naruto knew better than to bring this up and remained silent as she led them to the tailor's. Sasuke met them there holding three relatively large packs of what Naruto assumed to be his gear.

"These are for you," he said as he heaved one set at Naruto. It landed heavily in his arms, nearly driving him to his knees. "I got sets for you two as well," he continued, tossing a set to Anko and then Gouzen. They caught them with little difficulty. "I don't know what you used in Ame, but these should suffice until our blacksmiths are done repairing your gear."

Naruto kept the sneer off his face.

_Repairing? They're probably inspecting every inch of my blade for traces of the Kyuubi or my Kekkei Genkai. Makes sense that they'd keep Anko and Gouzen's too to facilitate the charade. _

"When do you think we'll get our stuff back?" Naruto asked as he pulled a kunai belt out of the pack.

"Probably in a couple days," Sasuke answered. "Only them though. You, unfortunately, aren't allowed any other weapon besides standard shinobi gear until you get promoted to chuunin."

"What?" he blurted out.

Sakura looked at him sheepishly.

"It's true," she said. "Only chuunin and up get to have their own weapons."

To emphasize her point, Sasuke whipped out a tanto from behind his back and twirled it around expertly on his finger. It was black, narrow, and covered in chakra seals, clearly placing it outside the realm of "standard shinobi gear".

Naruto suddenly erupted, deep within his head. Was he not good enough to possess a weapon other than some flimsy kunai? What if he was stuck in Konoha forever and they never promoted him beyond genin?

_I deserve better than that! _he raged, his head pounding and pounding and pounding. _I'm better than every one of them! How dare these two _idiots_ presume to command me! I should kill them! I—_

"You all right?" Sakura asked. "Hey!"

Naruto blinked in surprise and his rage faded away. He realized he was glaring, so he rubbed at his eyes and then forced a smile onto his face.

"Just tired," he said.

"You'll get your weapons back," Sakura assured him. "With your skill, they'll promote you in no time and then…"

_I suppose I really am tired_, he thought, ignoring her. _I must be if my headaches would act up again over something so…so _stupid_. I just need to remember the water. I need to remember to be calm. I'm too intelligent for something as petty as anger. _

"We're heading to the tailor, correct?" he asked Sakura, interrupting her mid-sentence.

"Huh—oh! Indeed we are! I'll try to find you a shirt without, um, _those _on it and then maybe some neat sandals!"

A gleam of joy lit up her eyes and she grabbed Naruto roughly by the wrist and proceeded to drag him down the street. He heard Anko growl softly behind him, but he offered no resistance. There was certainly no harm in letting Sakura have her fun. Maybe she'd even forget the look on his face as he'd been contemplating slitting her pretty throat.

It only took a few minutes to reach the tailor's and once there, Naruto immediately discarded the ridiculous shirt the hospital had given him and picked out a plain dark blue one to replace it. Sakura tried to throw myriad shirts on him and he forced himself to be as obsequious and cheerful as he could. In the end, however, he wormed his way into buying the one he'd originally chosen. He had to get it extra small, of course, but the fabric felt nice and it matched his pants well.

_And it doesn't have _flames _on it_, he thought.

As he tried his new shirt on in the changing room, Naruto chanced a look at his chest in the room's mirror. Curious, he allowed a little chakra to flood into his heart. Within moments, a strange and elegant spiral pattern appeared on his left pectoral.

_The Pledge_, Naruto thought bitterly.

He tried pumping more chakra into it. The spiral pattern pulsated and grew slightly, but nothing else happened. Naruto frowned in thought, then put his hand in the ram seal.

"_Soyokaze no Jutsu_," he whispered.

A small breeze blew around Naruto. The pattern pulsated as before, but did nothing else.

_Interesting_, he thought. _That pulse could have been a signal sent to a Konoha sensor, letting them know that I just cast a jutsu. I wonder if they know exactly what kind of jutsu I used. _

Naruto glanced behind him at the curtain of his dressing room.

_Does every Konoha shinobi have the Pledge? _he wondered. _Wouldn't I have seen it on them? Would their _issui_ have been different? No, they wouldn't have it. Placing the Pledge on every shinobi would've raised too many eyebrows. There's also the ethical entanglement that Konoha would've been in if the entire continent had found out about this thing. Could it be that only the higher ups know about it? Yes, that would protect the secret. It would also give them the power to place it on anyone they wanted. I guess I should be grateful that it doesn't affect my ability to cast jutsu. At least, not low-level jutsu. I'll have to wait to test a more powerful one. There's just one final thing I need to know._

Naruto took a deep breath, then activated his Kekkei Genkai. He didn't flash it on and off like he had in the hospital, but instead maintained it. The Pledge began pulsating violently. It emitted a vibrant display of _issui _that reached out towards some unknown place or person.

_No pain_, Naruto realized.

He turned around and watched the _issui _of Team 7 and his own team outside the changing booth. The wisps of light danced and played just as they always had.

_My abilities don't seem to be inhibited either_, he thought with a sense of relief. _At least I have that to hold onto. Of course, Konoha will know when I use it. They'll always know so long as this thing is on me. But once I have it off..._

Naruto smiled.

* * *

It was noon by the time they started the tour, which meant they had to breeze over several less important areas. Given that Naruto and his team had been in Konoha for well over a month, however, Sakura had a feeling they'd seen most of Konoha already. None of them were complaining at least, so she moved onward, always cheerful, always smiling. It was annoying, but she wanted Naruto to feel welcome and happy.

She glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye and frowned. He looked forlorn and angry, not at all in tune with the loving atmosphere she wanted to create.

_So he's being Sasuke_, she thought. _What's wrong now? Is he still suspicious of Naruto?_

A couple days ago, Sasuke had expressed certain…doubts about Naruto; namely, his desire to run away to Ame after their battle with Gaara. Sakura had claimed he'd just been exhausted from battle, Sasuke had yelled back that Naruto had wanted to steal a Jinchuriki, and she'd promptly stormed out of the Uchiha Complex and headed home.

_Did he really want to take Gaara? _she wondered. _I remember healing him, but after that…_

She shook her head. Such thoughts were irrelevant now. Naruto was on the path to forgiving them. Team 7 was going to be whole again.

"So Sakura," Naruto began suddenly, cutting her off mid-sentence while she was talking about a particularly high quality art store nearby, "is all of Konoha like this?"

He chuckled, but she couldn't help noticing that his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Well," she answered, "not really. All cities have their seedier parts, right?"

"Yeah," he answered. "Of course, I don't think we've seen Konoha's yet."

"Konoha's what?" she asked.

"It's 'seedier parts'."

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Why would you want to go there? It's mostly just old buildings."

Kakashi-sensei had told her to show Naruto all of Konoha, but she'd deliberately been avoiding the more rundown places. She remembered the place Naruto had grown up, so she wanted to steer clear of anything remotely similar to it. Why did he want to see those places, though?

_Is he looking for a place to hide Gaara after he kidnaps him?_

The thought came unbidden into her mind and she immediately regretted it. Sasuke's paranoia was infecting her, that was all. Naruto would never do such a terrible thing.

"I-I mean," Sakura went on," if you really want to go there, I suppose—"

"No, no!" Naruto said with a laugh. "I much prefer this. I guess I was just wondering if everything in Konoha had changed."

"Not quite everything," she replied with a laugh. "You remember Ichiraku's place? We went there right before—"

_Oh gods…_

Naruto looked stricken. She remembered so clearly how he'd led her to that sweet little ramen stand right before Sasuke's family had been butchered. Right before Sasuke had led them off into that forest where Naruto was lost.

Anko and Gouzen looked confused, but Sasuke understood perfectly.

"There's a nice restaurant a couple blocks down," he said. "We can take a break there."

He took the lead and led Anko and Gouzen down the street. Anko glanced back at Naruto, but he waved her on.

_What is he going to say? _she wondered.

She could think of million things she'd say. She could think of million and one things the old Naruto would say. But this Naruto could say or do anything and she wouldn't understand why. He was so different from the boy she'd known. What would he do?

Smiling warmly, he touched her affectionately on the arm. She sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto—"

"Forget about it," he interrupted. "We can't change what happened, but that doesn't mean we have to become mired in self-loathing and grief. Everything will work out."

He grinned encouragingly.

"If you say 'believe it', I'll kill you," she murmured jokingly.

Naruto's grin widened. He then bowed and made an ostentatious wave of his hand towards the ramen shop.

"After you, milady."

_Oh Naruto_, she thought sadly as she studied his eyes and hands and smile, _you would have done that four years ago, wouldn't you? And you know it too. You're doing this for me. Does that mean you want to come back? Or…or are you merely playing a part to make me feel better? _

She pulled a small smile across her face and curtsied.

"Why thank you sir," she said. "I do believe I'll accept."

Shouldn't she be allowed to believe that he really wanted to come back? Hadn't she suffered enough sleepless nights when her dreams had been plagued by his burnt fingers stretched out in desperation, begging her to save him? What right did Sasuke or anyone else have to make her doubt Naruto after he'd finally come home to her?

_None_, she thought. _None at all._

* * *

It was close to midnight by the time Sakura and Sasuke left them at their new house. It was two stories high and made of a beautiful, almost unnatural wood that shone out dark and rich in the evening sky. The surrounding apartments were made of similar material, but all were unique in their design and appearance. Truly Konoha was a far cry from the wet, grey stone that made up even the wealthiest of homes in Ame.

He waved at them as they disappeared into the night. It was a normal, civilized parting of ways that Naruto knew was necessary to maintain the illusion he was carefully beginning to craft. He had to make it appear as if he was torn between Ame and Konoha, that just a little nudge in the right direction would send him happily back into Konoha's loving arms and all would be as it had been. Yet, he had to do it slowly and carefully. Suspicion would be aroused if he suddenly started acting like the friendly "baka" once again. He already felt as if he'd gone too far with Sakura.

_I must tell myself this over and over again_, he thought. _I must be a perfect model of the Naruto they want me to be: vulnerable and unsure, yet secretly wanting to return. _

When they were out of sight, Naruto turned to face Gouzen.

"Let's take a walk," he said.

Gouzen nodded.

Anko glared at Gouzen dangerously, but Naruto shook his head at her.

"Stay here and check out the place," he said. "This won't take long."

"What?" she demanded. "Fuck that! I'm no—"

"Gouzen needs to hear everything from me and I need to know exactly what kind of surveillance is inside that house. That leaves you. Can you do that for me?"

She growled and then stalked off into the house.

When the door slammed shut behind her, Naruto started walking. Gouzen followed close behind, his bulk looming over Naruto like a storm ready to thunder. They ambled along for close to an hour, despite what he'd told Anko. He wanted to make sure they were in a nice and loud place and the ones he'd seen had all been near the center of the city, well far away from their new abode. He found the perfect spot in one of the bars he'd spotted during Sakura's tour. The streets were more packed than they'd been a few hours ago and the bar itself was bursting at the seams, but Naruto simply waved his hitai-ate at the bouncer and they had a seat quickly enough. He ordered them a couple drinks as soon as the waitress came over. She stared at him skeptically when she realized he'd ordered sake, but he showed off his hitai-ate once more and she scurried off. As soon as she was gone, Naruto formed a few hand signs underneath the table and created a simple chakra bubble around Gouzen and himself to blend their voices into the loud noises of the bar. A skilled shinobi would detect the jutsu, but it was too subtle to do anything more than catch their passing attention.

As soon as the bubble had formed, Gouzen said, "Good. Now tell me why we're here. Why would Leader-sama trust this mission to a former dog of Konoha?"

Instead of answering, Naruto simply sat back in his chair and waited. Gouzen glared at him and started to open mouth to speak again, but Naruto held up his hand.

"First we drink."

"Why?" he demanded.

"I'm thirsty."

Gouzen stared at him.

"Fuck this," he growled. "I'm gone."

He started getting up out of his chair. Naruto grinned.

"I wonder how Leader-sama will handle being told to 'fuck this'."

He stopped, half-sitting and half-standing up. His face was indignant and wrathful, but Naruto saw the tiniest tinge of fear within his eyes.

"Before you go off and fuck anything," he continued, "listen to what I have to say. First we'll drink, then I'll talk, and _then _you can decide to go stick your dick in something. How does that sound?"

Gouzen's face had gone beet red, though Naruto figured it had more to do with embarrassment than anger. Nevertheless, he handled himself relatively well.

"Will I get to leave if I want to?" he asked.

"Of course," Naruto replied.

Gouzen clucked his tongue in annoyance and then plopped himself back down into his chair, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

_Without Gouzen's help_, Naruto realized, _Anko and I won't be able to get Yugito and Gaara out of here. There's too much ground to cover for only two people to find them. Even if we did somehow manage to locate them in this massive place, my plan…_

His plan was a work in progress. He was reasonably confident about their chances once they got Gaara and Yugito out of wherever they were and into the city. In short, he would disguise both jinchuriki in a Yuutai Henge as bushels of wheat. Anko and Gouzen would carry them in a wagon and would leave under the pretext that they were returning to Ame and had decided to take home food for their families due to the poor crop this year. Since only Jiraiya knew about the Yuutai Henge, Naruto doubted the gatekeepers would stop them. That wasn't the hard part, however. If his suspicions were correct and Konoha was as intelligent as he remembered, Yugito and Gaara were likely in two different locations. As soon as it was found out that one was missing, Konoha would immediately move the other one to a location far, far away. That meant that both jinchuriki had to be taken at around the same time. Since Naruto would be coordinating the plan from afar and Anko couldn't be in two places at once without straining her chakra overmuch and alerting Konoha's chakra sensors, they needed another person: Gouzen.

The waitress brought the sake over in short order, though Naruto waited for her to set down the bottle and walk away before he decided to answer Gouzen's question.

"You asked why Leader-sama trusted a 'dog of Konoha'," Naruto said as he sipped at his saucer. "You would be right to call me such. I was a dog of Konoha and I fought for her as loyally as any dog would. But that changed when I was left to die by my teammates."

Gouzen had begun tilting his saucer up to drink, but stopped.

"They betrayed you?" he asked. "Why? They seemed to like you. A lot."

He emphasized "a lot" with a suspicious glare.

"We were ambushed by a band of Kumo," Naruto replied. "I was downed and the enemy began swarming towards them. They were children and, just as children would in the face of death, they fled. Lady Angel happened to be passing by and she took mercy upon me."

A knowing look passed across Gouzen's face and he sneered.

"How convenient. You expect me to believe the Lady Angel just 'happened' to be there to save you?"

"Are you saying the Lady Angel wouldn't take mercy upon a dying child?"

Gouzen's certainty vanished for a moment. Naruto seized hold of the opportunity.

"She did save me, Gouzen," he said. "She saved me and because of that I will be forever loyal to both her and Leader-sama. Therefore, I will complete every mission that they assign to me without question. It is because of this that they have seen fit to trust me with a task as important as the one we're doing _right now_."

He stopped in order to allow his words to sink in. By using Gouzen's loyalty towards the concept of "Lady Angel" and "Leader-sama", Naruto had temporarily halted the murderous advance of the boy's thoughts. From there, he'd simply told the truth, which was that he was completely and utterly loyal to Ame. However, it all depended upon Gouzen. No matter how cleverly he disguised himself within religious fervor or spoke of pure and noble loyalty, Naruto had still deceived Gouzen by not telling him his true name and origins. Hopefully the sake was helping him forget that.

Gouzen drank his sake and then put his face in his hands and groaned. Naruto didn't know whether to take that as good or bad, so he simply refilled his own cup and waited.

"I still don't trust you." Gouzen lifted himself out of his hands and gave Naruto an even and calculating stare. "What you're saying…don't bullshit me, all right?"

"I'm not," Naruto said with a frown. He'd been so close. "Why are you so pissed about this? It's not like I betrayed Leader-sama or anything."

"But you could!" Gouzen shouted.

Naruto glared at him and motioned at Gouzen to keep his voice down. He didn't want to strain the bubble anymore than he had to.

"You're from Konoha," he continued in a quieter tone. "What'd prevent you from turning me in to get back in your Kage's good graces?"

"I just told you, Leader-sama and Lady Angel saved my li—"

"Prove it."

"Ask Anko."

Gouzen snorted.

"She'd lie for you."

It was Naruto's turn to groan. His mind raced through different scenarios, but each one he turned to only ended with Gouzen leaving or being killed.

_By me_, he thought. _Should I just kill him? He already knows too much to simply walk away. Maybe it would be easier…No. Konoha would get suspicious if one of my teammates suddenly vanished. And I need him._

"How can I afford to believe you?" Gouzen asked. "Tell me."

"Because you can't afford not to," Naruto retorted.

Gouzen rolled his eyes.

"Explain," he demanded.

Naruto stroked the edge of his saucer thoughtfully. He had a feeling a part of Gouzen wanted to give him a chance, else they wouldn't be having this conversation. Now, what was stopping him?

_Fear_, he thought. _The only thing stopping him is fear. He's afraid Leader-sama will be betrayed. He's afraid he'll be killed._

He needed to make Gouzen feel safe then. Not just that, though. There was something else too. What had sensei said…?

"If you want your subordinates to trust you, you must place trust in them," he murmured involuntarily. "If you want them to follow you, empower them and make them feel needed."

"Beg pardon?" Gouzen asked.

_I need Gouzen to know he's needed_, he realized. _Without him, we'll have to settle for only one jinchuriki. Who knows when we'll get another chance at _two_?_

"Without you, Gouzen," he said, "my plan won't work and I'll fail Leader-sama. _We _will fail Leader-sama. Do you want that to happen?"

Gouzen narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"It is blasphemy to fail Leader-sama," he said reverently.

"Then that's all the proof you need," he persisted. "Do you really think Leader-sama would let someone of questionable loyalty take on a mission like this? What do you think he would do if someone betrayed him?"

Realization dawned upon Gouzen. Finally, he was at a loss for words. His eyes widened in terror and his mouth opened and closed helplessly. Though he'd proven to be much brighter than Naruto had originally thought, Gouzen was still limited by his upbringing. To Gouzen – to his entire generation – Pain was God.

"I'm guessing it's something similar to what he'd do to someone who failed him," Naruto continued. "Or, to someone who refused to obey his commands."

"I haven't refused anything!" Gouzen shouted.

His calm had vanished completely. Now he was resorting to childish anger.

"You're refusing my commands," Naruto countered, "which were given to me by Leader-sama. Therefore, you're refusing Leader-sama and thus betraying the trust he placed in us."

Gouzen glanced around, searching perhaps for some way to deny Naruto's logic. Naruto felt odd calling his argument "logical" since he was relying primarily on Gouzen's religious fervor, but if it worked he didn't really care.

"Leader-sama _did _give you the command," Gouzen muttered finally, "and no one can fool God. Maybe…"

There was genuine fear in his eyes. Naruto almost felt sorry for him.

"I'll always follow Leader-sama," Gouzen murmured. "If God put his trust into you, then I can only do the same."

He reached out grasped Naruto's hand tightly to bind his word.

"Thank you Gouzen," Naruto said as he returned Gouzen's handshake happily. "Together, we—"

The grip tightened and Naruto was suddenly yanked forward inches from Gouzen's face. His breath smelt slightly of sake. There was sweat too, and an earthy odor that might have been from the sake saucer.

"If you betray us," Gouzen growled, "if you betray _me_, I'll kill ya and not even God will save you then."

Gouzen pushed Naruto back away from him, stood up out of his seat, and stalked off into the crowd. Naruto waited until Gouzen's large backside had vanished entirely before he deactivated the chakra bubble. And then he started laughing. He eyed his sake saucer and took a deep gulp. It burned all the way down, but that only made him smile more.

"Guess I'm paying," he chuckled.

"Since when does a runt like you have money for sake?"

Naruto jumped in his chair startled.

_Who the hell…?_

"Behind you," the voice said.

He turned and found himself face to face with the voice's owner. It only took Naruto a moment to recognize him.

"You!" he exclaimed.

"Me," Jiraiya said with a wink. "What's shakin' little man?"

* * *

There wasn't a moon tonight, so he had to light a few extra candles. Sarutobi preferred this anyway. He thought the orange glow the tiny wax columns emitted made his office seem much cozier. He had half a mind to pull out a good, thick book from his ancient shelves and read on and on into the dawn.

_More melancholy reading awaits me, I fear_, he thought.

A parchment made of thick paper and bound by thin red rope sat in his lap. Within it was Jiraiya's final report on Orochimaru. It was the last bit of information he had on either one of his former students. Orochimaru was locked away in a deep, deep cell and Sarutobi hadn't spoken to Jiraiya for close to two days now, which was quite long considering how closely he'd been monitoring his former pupil.

_Ever since the Assembly – a week, I believe – I made sure he's stayed the course_, he mused. _I talked with him, asked him how he's feeling…all of it. Still, he remained depressed and disconsolate. After my last meeting with the Takai Jounin, I told him that Naruto didn't have the Kyuubi inside him, that he had miraculously survived and that he had to be the one that the Toad Sage had prophesized to save us. I didn't really believe it and I still don't, but I knew it would make him feel better. And it did. I'll never forget the smile that lit up his face. Nor will I forget the gleam that entered his eyes, a look I've seen on Orochimaru's face many times over. Clearly he hadn't believed Naruto was the prophesized one, else his reaction wouldn't have been so strong. Yet what difference could that belief truly make besides moving him to become a mentor to Naruto? But his eyes…hopefully Akira's men can find him and see what he's doing. Until then… _

With a sigh, he undid the string and unraveled the parchment.

_Just as I expected_, he thought when he'd finished. _Orochimaru is mine…_

He threw the parchment to the side and then took a sip of the sweetened wine they'd imported from Tani no Kuni, the Valley Country. There probably wouldn't be much left of such goods if Kumo was serious about forming an embargo. This latest of threats had come only three days ago, prompting Sarutobi to send back a large portion of the genin he'd been detaining. That wouldn't stop the demands, however. Nor would it stop the spies from attempting to sneak through his walls. Ibiki had already captured and interrogated over a dozen of them.

_All for naught_, he thought. _They'll never talk and my enemies won't stop sending them. They don't care about simple children. They want Yugito. And they can have her as soon as I've wrung the Nibi out of her. _

He suddenly heard two hard pounding noises against his door.

_ Masahiro_, he realized.

He glanced down at a small slip of paper hidden beneath a large stack of folders and papers. Fumihiko's neat and precise handwriting covered the entirety of it. He scowled and turned towards the door.

"Enter," he called out.

All muscle and jaw, Masahiro looked to be anything but an expert shinobi. Indeed, his primary weapon was taijutsu and a large katana. Worse, he possessed an impulsive and aggressive temperament that flew in the face of everything shinobi stood for. There was far more to Masahiro than that, however. He was surprisingly proficient in genjutsu and he and his brother, Yasahiro, had studied biology and Kekkei Genkai shortly after passing their Jounin Exams. Yasahiro had even earned an apprenticeship under Takenaka Chizu, the famed "Mother of Genetics", a few years before the war had started when he was only twenty. This expertise had been vital during the war when Kumo had let loose a deadly virus amongst some of the villages providing food and shelter to Konoha troops. Using their knowledge and working in conjunction with Konoha's own experts, Masahiro and Yasahiro had been able to create a complex defensive jutsu that protected friendly shinobi from the virus. Sarutobi had promoted them both to Takai Jounin after the war as a result. Since then, Masahiro had become one of Sarutobi's top lieutenants. Yasahiro, on the other hand, had slowly worked his way up to becoming the Assistant Head of the Konoha Medical Center, as well as the Chief Researcher in the Department of Research and Development.

After observing the necessary honorifics, Masahiro sat down in one of the seats next to Sarutobi's desk. True to his impulsive nature, he opened his mouth to begin relating his report. Sarutobi held up his hand almost on instinct.

_Such an impatient one_, he thought.

Masahiro blushed and closed his mouth. As a bubble of silencing chakra swept over the entire room, Sarutobi ran his eyes over his lieutenant.

"Now, what news of our guests?" he asked.

"Yasahiro says Yugito is talking about giving 'it' up," Masahiro answered.

"Truly?"

Masahiro nodded.

"And Gaara?" Sarutobi asked.

"He is proving to be more difficult than anticipated," he replied.

_That is to be expected_, Sarutobi thought. _His fool of a father abused him._

"Has he hurt anyone?" he asked.

"Two chuunin were severely injured last week, but Yasahiro was able to get Gaara's eyes to change into something comparable to Yugito and Naruto's. In other words, three out of the nine jinchuriki have displayed those eyes. More than that, we have discovered remarkable similarities between Yugito and Gaara in key segments of their genetic code. Blood samples taken from Naruto as an Academy initiate have shown the exact same thing. In other words, possessing a Bijuu is equivalent to possessing an enormously powerful Kekkei Genkai. This is proof the eyes are a connection to the Bi—"

"Two out of eight," Sarutobi corrected.

Masahiro blinked.

"Milord?"

"Naruto is no longer a jinchuriki," he explained. "Thus far, only two actual jinchuriki have shown eyes similar in appearance and ability to Naruto's Kekkei Genkai. Always remember that. And be careful you don't run away with our current findings. Kekkei Genkai are hereditary, meaning they can't be given to anyone outside of a certain gene pool. However, that the former jinchuriki of the Kyuubi and the jinchuriki of the Ichibi and Nibi demonstrate this power seems to indicate that jinchuriki share a common ability, much like a Kekkei Genkai. _Seems to_."

_You will do well to remember that_, Sarutobi thought. _To think of what would have happened without Fumihiko…_

Masahiro bowed his head and murmured, "Yes, milord."

"Do not mistake my words for criticism," Sarutobi said. "Only caution. You and your brother have done well. Thanks to your efforts, we can begin moving on to the next phase of development."

He noted the elation in Masahiro's eyes, the way his chakra welled up like a wave ready to crash happily against the shore. The boy was oblivious.

"Excellent news, milord," Masahiro said. "We've already drawn up a list of suitable candidates. When would you like us to begin copying? Yugito will be ready sooner than Gaara, milord, so I would—"

"What does Fumihiko say?" Sarutobi interrupted. "I almost forgot his input at our last meeting and I would be remiss to make that same mistake again. What is his report?"

A frown suddenly cracked across Masahiro's face.

"Fumihiko-sama has raised some…concerns about our planned extraction."

_At least he's being honest_, Sarutobi thought.

"Explain," he commanded.

Masahiro's frown deepened.

"It's very frustrating, milord," he answered. "My brother has tried to convince him otherwise, but he says there are too many things that could go wrong." He sighed and continued, "More specifically, he thinks that the Nibi is 'biding its time'. He discovered a hidden condition in Gaara's seal. The condition causes the seal to completely close the connection between the Ichibi and Gaara if too much demonic chakra pollutes Gaara's own chakra network. The Ichibi must have overpowered this condition early on, most likely due to the poor sealwork. Its defeat during the invasion, however, has weakened it enough for the condition to activate."

"I fail to see the problem," Sarutobi said.

"The problem, milord, is that Yugito doesn't have any such condition. In other words, there should be no reason for the Nibi not to be able to start controlling Yugito like it did during the Exams. Her seal doesn't limit its strength, doesn't inhibit its ability to enter her mind—"

"Neither did Gaara's," Sarutobi interjected.

"But that was due to poor sealwork milord, as I mentioned earlier," Masahiro explained. "The makers intended it to inhibit the Ichibi's abilities and it does just that, in a manner of speaking. Because Yugito's seal actually seems to be written very well, however, Fumihiko concluded that its lack of safeguards was intentional. Technically, this means the Nibi could rise up at any time."

"And you wanted to proceed without informing me of this?" Sarutobi asked. He spoke in a quiet and menacing voice, one that he often used when dealing out punishment.

Masahiro licked his lips nervously and said, "Forgive me, milord. I simply don't think the risks are great enough. My brother has been testing Yugito quite rigorously and the Nibi has yet to attack. I have no reason to assume it will attack while we are transmuting and copying Yugito's chakra network and even if it does, my brother and I have set up numerous binding jutsu that should keep the Bijuu stable throughout the entire process—"

Sarutobi held up his hand and scowled. Instead of feeling angry, however, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over him. The system he'd built was working. Masahiro was one of his top men, yet Fumihiko had felt no qualms about informing Sarutobi of his mistake. This was because Sarutobi trusted each and every one of them with the responsibility of not only their own duties, but that of their fellow Takai Jounin. In Sarutobi's experience, if you wanted your subordinates to trust you, you had to place trust in them. If you wanted them to follow you, you needed to empower them and make them feel needed.

_And now, even though I must punish Masahiro, he must understand how necessary he is to Konoha_, Sarutobi thought. _I must make him aware of his mistakes and help him learn from them. I'll give him command of Orochimaru. It is a less prestigious holding than experimenting with the jinchuriki, but its importance is great enough that I know he'll still feel trusted. First, however… _

"Fumihiko raises legitimate concerns, Masahiro," Sarutobi said, "and your impulsivity could have resulted in severe repercussions for Konoha and her people. Had the Council gotten wind of this, you would have lost your rank and been discharged dishonorably for an indefinite amount of time."

Masahiro's strong jaw failed, letting his mouth gape open in horror.

"M-my Lord, I—"

"Fortunately for you," Sarutobi continued, "you have more than proven your worth to me and to Konoha. I understand the reasoning behind your actions and will not go to such extreme lengths to punish you. Fumihiko will take over the project in your stead. You and your brother will be moved back to your normal duties."

His face pale and stunned, Masahiro bowed his head once more and replied, "As you wish, Hokage-sama. T-thank you, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi nodded and continued, "Do not fret, Masahiro. A failure or two can be quite beneficial. Now, after this meeting I want you to go to Fumihiko and inform him of his new duties. Understood?"

Masahiro grimaced, but nodded and murmured, "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Is there anything further?" Sarutobi asked. "If not, we can move on to Jiraiya's report."

"There is something, milord," Masahiro answered. "I…It is my hope, milord, that you will understand that this was neither my idea nor my doing."

Sarutobi gripped his tobacco pouch tightly between his fingers and held it there. Long years of tragic reports being delivered in the same fearful voice that Masahiro was using now had given him ample opportunity to develop methods to brace himself. One of those methods was his pouch.

"Tell me," Sarutobi said, fingers firmly latched onto the pouch.

Masahiro nodded and explained, "Fumihiko has created a jutsu that would essentially prolong a Bijuu extraction over a much longer period, as opposed to releasing the Bijuu in their entirety. With it, we could safely transfer the Bijuu from Yugito and Gaara to two newborns without raising alarm or posing a threat to anyone. The Bijuu simply wouldn't be able to respond in a dangerous way."

"And why would Fumihiko create this?" Sarutobi asked. A growing sense of foreboding was beginning to take hold of his innards. Bijuu extraction was a nasty and dangerous business, usually only done in secret by governments desiring a jinchuriki. Or by a missing-nin hungry for power. Would Fumihiko go rogue? Perhaps he had ratted Masahiro out to undermine Sarutobi's faith in his subordinates. Or maybe—

"It…it was to keep the jinchuriki alive after extraction," Masahiro replied.

His fingers unconsciously released from his pouch.

"Keep them alive?" he asked. "How? Why?"

"I feel the same way, milord," Masahiro blurted out. "I've tried telling him over and over again that such ideas are foolish—"

"Why?" Sarutobi repeated.

To see such a massive man quail before him might have been amusing to Sarutobi had the issue at hand not been so serious.

Masahiro cleared his throat nervously and then answered, "Fumihiko hypothesizes that Ame recognized Naruto as a Jinchuriki when they found him, tried to extract the Kyuubi from him when they saw he was dying, and then…Even Fumihiko is skeptical about this, milord, and he didn't want to tell you about this, eh, idea until he'd learned more, but—"

"Finish what you started, Masahiro," Sarutobi commanded.

"Y-yes, milord," Masahiro mumbled. "Fumihiko believes that during the extraction process, something went wrong. As you know milord, jinchuriki have only a few moments of life left in them after the extraction of their Bijuu. For some reason – and this is what Fumihiko doesn't understand – Naruto survived and the Kyuubi was driven out of his body and back into the Realm of the Bijuu. The aftermath of this was Naruto as he is now."

_I…this is incredible_, Sarutobi thought. _If this is true…_

"If I understand this correctly," Sarutobi said aloud, hiding his amazement as best he could, "then Naruto's experience could be replicated? If so, then Fumihiko wishes to extract the Bijuu from Yugito and Gaara, keep them alive, observe the effects, and then repeat the process in one of our own. Is this correct, Masahiro?"

"As far as I understand, milord," Masahiro answered, "that is correct. A far longer and more laborious process than the one we have devised now, as you might imagine milord."

"But much less dangerous, if it works," Sarutobi muttered.

"How?" Masahiro demanded. His eyes widened when he'd realized the tone he'd taken and he quickly said, "Apologies, Hokage-sama. I simply feel that the Nibi will recognize an extraction the moment we begin drawing the symbols. It'll fight to break free, and then—"

"Always remember this when dealing with jinchuriki," Sarutobi interrupted. "They are the eyes and ears of their Bijuu. Without them, the demon can know nothing of the outside world. Therefore—"

"Knock the Jinchuriki out and the Bijuu won't know it's being extracted until it's too late," Masahiro murmured involuntarily. He glanced up at Sarutobi, blushed, and said, "Apologies again, Hokage-sama."

"Quite all right," Sarutobi said. "As long as you understand."

"If I might, Hokage-sama," Masahiro asked, "couldn't we simply then incapacitate Yugito before my experiment?"

Sarutobi frowned and shook his head.

"No," he answered. "Your experiment involves the manipulation of Yugito's chakra network, which the Nibi would sense immediately and react to with its full strength. Fumihiko's design will only alert the Bijuu once its essence is being drawn out. At that point, it will already be trapped by a new seal and thus be unable to react."

"But not by Yugito's seal, milord," Masahiro persisted. "There are no safeguards around it."

"True," Sarutobi said, "but if we can hold the Nibi back with your binding jutsu, that should give Fumihiko's seal enough time to bind it. If we can get a fair portion of its essence into the new vessel then we should be safe from any reprisals. We can have Fumihiko increase the speed of the transfer as much as he can. Worst case scenario, the Nibi's essence will break free of your binding jutsu—"

"Releasing bits and pieces of its essence in the lab like the chakra remnants from the Kyuubi after its attack," Masahiro interjected. His face reddened and he mumbled, "Apologies, Hokage-sama."

"I'm simply glad you understand it all," Sarutobi replied with a smile. "Now tell me in full: why can't we use your method?"

Masahiro nodded and said, "Using my method, the Bijuu could take possession of Yugito at a moment's notice and bring harm to Konoha. The binding jutsu I've designed are poor replacements for an actual jinchuriki seal, so they would do little to hold the Nibi back. Fumihiko's method is safer and more effective because the Nibi is never actually free from a seal at any time. By the time the Nibi becomes aware it's being drawn out and begins fighting, a portion of it will already be in the new seal and vessel. In this weakened state, the Nibi will be vulnerable to my binding jutsu."

"After our meeting," Sarutobi said, "tell Fumihiko exactly what you just told me and inform him of the new changes I want made to his design."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Masahiro asked. "Does…does this mean I'm back on the project, Hokage-sama?"

"No," Sarutobi said. "You must learn from your mistakes before I grant you that honor, especially considering the gravity of your error. However, I require your aid with something else. Will you do this for me?"

"Whatever you wish, Hokage-sama," Masahiro replied eagerly.

Sarutobi picked up the report on Orochimaru and tossed it to him.

"Make the necessary preparations," he commanded as Masahiro read with ever widening eyes. "This is your chance to redeem yourself. Do not fail me, Masahiro. Understood?"

"Y-yes, Hokage-sama."

* * *

"You basmmmmmh!"

Jiraiya clamped his hand over Naruto's mouth by trapping him in a headlock. Without batting an eye, he proceeded to drag the boy out of the bar, kicking and biting.

"Now what would your mother say if she saw you?" Jiraiya asked loudly. "Little kid like that drinking in a bar…you'd don't even have a woman with ya yet!"

Anyone in the bar who happened to be watching the scene burst into laughter. As they stepped out into the warm night and left the din of the bar behind, the joking smile vanished off of Jiraiya's face. His pace quickened, so much so that Naruto couldn't keep up. Jiraiya tossed him over his shoulder and kept moving.

"FU—"

Jiraiya snapped his fingers and a bubble of chakra covered Naruto's mouth. He thought he heard the boy scream in frustration, but he paid no mind and continued to descend further and further into the night, past the dim and dying lights of houses and shops and through alleys and backstreets infested with the lowest forms of life Konoha had to offer.

Jiraiya reached out with his senses and felt the two scouts that were trailing Naruto. They were small, precise flecks of light amidst an ocean of stars, but Jiraiya could pinpoint their location with a reasonable degree of certainty.

_Not too far away_, he realized, _but not close enough to have a visual on us. They must be going off our chakra signatures then. Good._

Without a second thought he cast a Yuutai Henge over Naruto and himself, then ducked into a nearby shack and dropped Naruto onto the floor next to a homeless man. The man jerked awake, mumbled something, and then caught sight of Jiraiya. Suspicion and fear lit up the tiny dark spots that were his eyes. He wiped a sleeve against his tobacco-stained mouth.

"Wha'chu want?" the man asked. "I ain't got nothin' and I don't approve of unknown indevijules in my 'ovel."

Jiraiya pulled a smooth stone out of his pocket, tossed it up and down in his hand a few times, and then whipped it at the man's hand in a motion too fast to be seen. The rock collided into the man's forehead with a _crack _and he collapsed back onto the ground unconscious.

As he guided the stone back into his hand with chakra, Jiraiya noticed Naruto staring at the bum's sleeping form with worried eyes. He snapped his fingers happily and the chakra bubble around Naruto's mouth dissipated. The boy massaged his jaw gingerly. Finding nothing missing, he turned a bright blue stare onto Jiraiya.

"He's not dead," Jiraiya said..

"I know that!" he snapped derisively. "Will he hear us though?"

Jiraiya grinned.

"Why would that matter?" he asked.

"Hell if I know," Naruto retorted. "I can only assume what prompted you to drag me out into a dark alley in a Yuutai must have been of at least _marginal_ importance."

"You're annoyingly verbose for a child," Jiraiya remarked with a frown.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"To break you out of Konoha," Jiraiya answered.

For all of Naruto's _verbosity_, his eyes still widened as any child's would have.

"Wait, what?" he blurted out. "W-why? How?

Jiraiya smiled. When the old man had asked him to torture Orochimaru, he'd changed irrevocably. Though he hadn't lived in Konoha for years, it had still been his home. The old man had been his kindly and wise teacher, the city's shinobi had been its noble and virtuous guardians, and the people had been bastions of good will. But all that was gone. It had vanished with the first cut of his knife into Orochimaru's flesh. Or perhaps the war had transformed his home into the ruthless city-state it was now.

_Maybe it's always been like this_, he thought, his smile fading, _and my eyes have only now been opened._

Had it been only a week, a mere seven days lying across his bed in a drunken stupor angry and sad at the world? It'd felt like a lifetime, each day passing slower than the last. And the nights…

But now he had purpose. Now he felt as if he was doing something _right_. He would take Naruto from this ruthless, horrid place and protect him. And there was the prophecy to consider.

_Could Naruto really be the one? _he wondered. _Wouldn't you need divine protection to survive a Bijuu extraction?_

That's what the old man thought. Or at least, that's what he acted like he thought. The actual reason behind the Hokage's actions escaped Jiraiya. If he'd been an honest man, he might've admitted that he should have known something was up the moment Sarutobi had told him the other, far more nefarious purpose behind torturing Orochimaru besides bringing Tsunade back. Fortunately for his ego, Jiraiya wasn't an honest man. That didn't help Naruto, though. He had this "Pledge" on him and his every move was being monitored. To think he'd let Minato's legacy be subject to this…

_That's precisely the reason I need to get him out of here_, Jiraiya thought forcefully. _The Kyuubi is gone from him and he's _alive_. He's the subject of the Toad Sage's prophecy. He has to be, right? What other explanation is there? He survived the extraction, has abilities no other shinobi has ever had in known history, and is the son of the man I originally thought was our savi—could that be it? Do I want him to be Minato? I-it's certainly possible, I'll admit, even likely…what if he's not the one? What do I say when Naruto won't accept my excuses anymore? Do I tell him the truth, that I'm an old and regretful man looking to correct my many, many mistakes through him? Should I say he's the "chosen one" and that I'm here to guide him on a noble quest to save the world? Or could I…could I actually tell him that I want to care about him? He's got problems, yeah, and his intentions might be nefarious, but he's Minato's boy…and my godson. That's my reason: I will protect him because he's family. He's _my _family and I'm his. That should be enough. If not, then I'll deal with it. _

"Let's just focus on that last question," Jiraiya said. "The 'how'. First, we need to get that thing off your chest."

He roughly grabbed Naruto shirt and ripped it open, laying bear the pudgy flesh of Naruto's Yuutai.

_Worse than I thought_, Jiraiya thought with a frown.

"O-oh gods!" Naruto shrieked.

The Pledge hadn't reacted favorably to the Yuutai. A large crack had formed in its chest, letting black ink ooze up onto the Yuutai. A tendril suddenly erupted out of where the Yuutai's heart would have been and Naruto let out a tiny yelp. It waved back and forth in the air and then drove its edge deep across the Yuutai's skin, leaving a long black stain extending from the Yuutai's heart to the end of its right pectoral. Jiraiya noticed another tendril creeping right behind the first and grimaced. Slowly but surely, a large black kanji symbol was clawing its way up out of the Yuutai's very chest.

"I don't wanna take it off yet," he explained. "Konoha'll go crazy and that can't happen until you're ready to leave. Unless you're ready to leave _now_. Are you? And make it quick, kid. That thing will break free soon and then they'll know your location."

Jiraiya fixed the boy with an even stare. He had his suspicions about why Naruto was actually in Konoha, which had only been bolstered when he'd felt the chakra bubble Naruto had put over himself in the bar. He didn't have anything concrete though. If there was a deeper, perhaps more nefarious, purpose behind Naruto coming to Konoha, Jiraiya figured the might want to stay here until he'd done what he needed to do.

He watched Naruto's mannerisms carefully. To Naruto's credit as a shinobi, he seemed to have gotten over the fact that something was clawing its way out of his fake chest. He was grimacing, but the wild look that had entered his eyes when he'd shrieked was gone. At the very least, he had calmed himself. For the briefest moment, it even appeared as if he was deep in thought.

"Why should I leave?" he asked. "Konoha is my home and I've done nothing wrong."

"You're too calm, kid," Jiraiya remarked. "Props to ya for coming up with that on the fly. Not a lot of genin would keep it cool under pressure."

Naruto didn't flinch.

"Should I be hysterical and frantic then?" he asked. "And what exactly are—"

Another Pledge tendril shot up through his chest and his eyes widened horrifically.

"Hurry up," Jiraiya said. "The Yuutai will be gone soon and then they'll know exactly where you are. 'Course that shouldn't be a problem since you love 'em and all. Then again, they might wonder how you slipped off their little Pledge radar, so they'll probably keep a closer eye on ya too. A word from me though and that won't happen."

Naruto glared and said nothing.

_Let's try another tactic_, Jiraiya thought.

He groaned and said, "Look, I know there's a reason you're here. I honestly, _sincerely_ don't give a shit what, when, why, where, who, or how. All I care about is getting you out of Konoha as soon as possible."

"Why?" he demanded.

_A good question_, Jiraiya thought, _but one I can't answer just yet. _

"All you need to know is that I want you – and your teammates, I suppose – safe," he said. "Konoha will not be safe for any of you. Therefore, I want to take you out of Konoha. Ya follow?"

"Of course I follow!" he snapped. "Why the hell should I trust you though? For all I know Konoha sent you to test my loyalty or something."

Jiraiya glanced down at the Pledge.

"We have time," Naruto insisted.

Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"If I tell you a state secret," he said, "will you trust me?"

Naruto snorted and said, "How will I know what you tell me is true?"

"I think you'd know if the Kyuubi wasn't inside you," he said.

Despite the disaster on their hands if they were caught, the seal bursting through Naruto's flesh, and the small voice in Jiraiya's head screaming at him that what he was doing was wrong, the expression that popped up on Naruto's face elicited the best laugh he'd had in a long time.

"What the hell are you talking about?" the boy shouted finally, his voice now as high-pitched and terrified as a child's.

"They know, kid," he explained. "They kn—"

"Why am I still fucking here then?" he demanded. "Hell, why don't they just fucking kill me and get it over with? I'm useless to them!"

"You curse a lot for a kid," Jiraiya remarked. "And you're not useless. You survived a Bijuu extraction and you're in possession of a new Kekkei Genkai. They're very, very interested in you, have no doubt."

Naruto didn't say anything. He sat there staring up at Jiraiya with eyes full of worry and fear, looking very much like a twelve-year old child.

"I've just proven that you can trust me," Jiraiya said finally. "I can't think of any scenario in which Konoha would want me to tell you they know about your lack of a Bijuu. Hell, I can't think of one that involves me dragging you into an alley to help you escape. Point is, this isn't a trick. But that's ultimately your call to make."

Jiraiya stood up and brushed the dirt off his hands. Naruto continued to stare at him.

"I'm gonna take this Yuutai off you now," he said. "What you do after that is up to you. Way I see it you have two general options. One, ignore me and go about your business. If that business happens to be legal, that's fine and best of luck. If it's not…best of luck regardless. Two, you take me up on my offer and I'll get you and your team home."

Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but closed it straightaway. Jiraiya nodded in understanding and snapped his fingers. The Yuutai vanished in a shimmer and the Pledge flew back into place instantaneously. Naruto's chakra signature was now open and free for all to see.

"That's good that you want to think it over, Naruto," Jiraiya went on. "Ya need time for something like this. I'll tell Konoha I sensed something weird with your seal and had to fix it. That should give you some time before they take a break from this political bullshit and start taking a much closer look at ya. A week, I think. Not much, but enough to weigh your options. I'll arrange a meeting between us, say, in five days. Something a little more formal than an alley, maybe?"

He grinned the way a cat might, all teeth and mischief. Naruto merely gulped.

"It's settled," Jiraiya proclaimed. "You keep up your friendly act and we'll talk in a few days. Ah, almost forgot. Our get-together will have to be early afternoon. I have an, er, appointment later that day that'll keep me preoccupied. Sound good?"

Naruto nodded quickly.

Jiraiya winked and then turned away to walk outside.

_That should do it_, he thought as the the warm air of the summer night rushed to greet him. _If I've figured him out – which I have – then he'll have to see me again. And then, if I'm right, he'll agree and we'll get out of Konoha forever. I can train him like I did with his father and if he's the Prophesized One, great. If he's not, that's fine too. I'll save you Naruto, I swear it. I swear it on everything I am, little as that may be. You just gotta trust me._

* * *

_Birds sang merrily outside his window, preaching the glorious word of spring and the morning wind. Their song was muted only slightly by the wooden panels of his bedroom and house. He'd been grateful to hear the birds and the bustle of Konoha outside throughout his entire childhood, yet this morning…this morning was different for Uchiha Sasuke._

_ The birdsong was screeching metal in his ears and the flow of wagons and carts across the paved roads felt like drums pounding relentlessly against the sides of his skull. He hated the cool air of springtime, the elegant patterns carved into the wood of his bedroom, and the noise raging inside his head from the outside world. He wished for fire to burn everything, so the throbbing, beating _noise_ would go away. _

_ The pain lessened as his hatred grew. He realized this and, frantic to end his suffering, dedicated himself to hatred. He would hate the world if it made the pain vanish!_

Sasuke's eyelids flew open, exposing two dark pupils to the world. Everything was black, telling him that the night was still well under way. There would be no sun to ease his turmoil.

Keeping the rest of his body perfectly still, Sasuke ran his eyes around the entirety of his room in search of the fire and hatred in his dream. All that answered him were shadows and the creaking whispers of his empty and silent room: his desk, ancient and beloved as a relic of his childhood, sat in the far left corner with quill and leaves of parchment resting upon it; training equipment lying on the opposite end clanged noisily from the wind seeping through the narrow slits in the thin doors to his room; and finally, a large closet full of clothes both rich and new (and relatively untouched) loomed over him hiding unknown monsters within its depths.

Sasuke smirked at the thought, though he nevertheless quickly turned his gaze away from the closet and onto the door at the far end of his room. He hadn't been afraid of the shadow beasts in that thing for ages. This had been facilitated by a maid of his when he was five, who had illuminated its murky depths with a mere candle and a wry grin. He'd always liked her…

The maid suddenly stepped through the door, her grin wild and insane and her body lacerated with myriad cuts from a traitor's blade.

"Thank you!" she cried out merrily.

A bird let out a soft trill just like the one in his nightmare. Sasuke bolted upright with a pained gasp, while his heart pounded and throbbed against his chest with the force of a hammer. Without thinking he reached up and clamped his hand around the symbols burning and writhing across his skin.

Black and fiery tendrils wrapped themselves lovingly around his fingers. The pain vanished, as did the maid and her terrifying visage. Pure hatred warmed his innards. He wanted to dive into it and escape—

"No!" he shouted.

He wrenched both his hand and mind away from the Mark. The warmth and hatred vanished instantly, leaving him in the dark once more. Sasuke breathed rapidly and shallowly, while his eyes darted between the doorway and his smoking hand.

_The binding seal isn't working_, Sasuke realized.

Kakashi had told him that it wouldn't eliminate all of the Mark's effects. He'd said that Sasuke would just have to manage and resist its temptations.

_Temptations_? he asked, his thoughts once more falling into anger. _How is any of this "tempting"? I'm plagued by hallucinations at every turn, my very chest aches from the beat of my heart, and—who's whispering?_

Sasuke froze and listened to the creaks and groans of his room. Realizing there was no one, he moaned and angrily slammed his palms into his forehead. Even his thoughts were turning against him.

_Relax_, Kakashi's voice told him. _Focus on your Self. What is your Self? It is the destruction of Itachi. It is a mission…a goal…a force driving you to become stronger._

He exhaled. He exhaled once more. Calm and tranquility, serenity and peace. He must be vigilant so that the snake's poison would not corrupt and destroy him. He would never kill Itachi otherwise.

Breathing out one last time, Sasuke lifted his head up high and prepared for the new day.

The maid stared back at him mere inches from his face, her eyes wide and bloodshot and her mouth spread in a large and terrifying grin.

"Thank you."

* * *

Anko smiled and lovingly rubbed the tiny, inch-long scar that ran through her right middle finger. It was from a long time ago, back when she'd been one of Orochimaru's pets. Tayuya had been teaching her how to dodge kunai with her eyes closed. Most of them had landed in her shoulders and arms, but there was one that had only nicked her right on her finger. Out of all them, that had been the one to make her cry. She'd just been so close…and then Tayuya had thrown a piece of chocolate at her.

_What an idiot_, she thought with a grin. It faded off her face when her thoughts inevitably leapt to Tayuya's current condition. _That fucking nurse would only say Tayuya was in "Critical Fucking Care". Sets up a nice excuse in case they want to kill her. Bastards…_

Unfortunately, asking about Tayuya was all Anko had been able to do during the short time she'd been conscious in the hospital. Now finally, she had some free time to actively think about how to bust her friend out.

"Where's the remote?" Gouzen growled.

Anko scratched her cheek and glared over at Gouzen. The idiot had returned ahead of Naruto about twenty minutes ago. When she'd asked what had happened, he'd merely shrugged.

"Found it!" he exclaimed.

The television roared to life moments later and Anko found herself wanting to bury her head in the large pile of scrolls littering their kitchen table. Or maybe planting her fist through Gouzen's fat face would do the trick.

_Not gonna get any thinking done here_, she thought as Gouzen abruptly burst into uproarious laughter. _Maybe Naruto's still at the bar. A nice drink would help me think a little…_

A loud banging noise sent her hand flying to the kunai at her side. It sounded like the front door downstairs.

"That you Naruto?" she called out.

The quick patter of tiny feet up the steps behind her was answer enough.

"What took ya so long?" she asked. "How the fuck could you get hammered without—"

Naruto's eyes were red. They were red and they were speeding around in his sockets at stomach-churning speed.

"Holy…Gouzen grab a medical scroll!" she ordered. "What the hell—"

"Just grab some gauze and gel, Gouzen," Naruto interrupted. "I'm fine. Just got into a bit of a brawl at the bar. Some fucker cuffed me right above the eyes, got blood all over…"

_Blood?_ Anko thought, her worry mounting. _There's not a cut on him. Is he delusional? Shit, he's trying to avoid the bugs in the wall!_

The television suddenly grew silent and Gouzen's head popped around the corner.

"What's goin' on?" he asked. "Who—holy…"

"Anko already covered that, I think," Naruto said with a smile. "The gauze and gel, if you would be so kind?"

Naruto's eyes started whirling around so fast his irises became little more than crimson blurs. Anko felt her stomach lurch.

Gouzen blinked nervously and stuttered, "I-I don't think—"

"Of course we have medical gear!" Anko snapped. "Go get some _now_!"

Gouzen reared back stunned, mumbled something, and then hurried off to obey. Anko sighed and massaged her temples. Thank the gods she'd realized what Naruto was doing in time…

"He can be such an idiot," Naruto joked. "Sometimes I wonder—oi!"

Anko punched him hard in the arm, nearly knocking him over.

"Explain," she ordered.

Naruto rubbed his arm gingerly and then glared at her. "Glare" was a relative term, of course.

"I told ya I got into a fight," he grumbled.

"How'd you get home?" she persisted. "And why the hell d'you get in a fight for?"

"I, uh, felt up this girl…"

Blood rushed up Anko's neck.

"You what?" she asked quietly.

"I had a few drinks and started hittin' on this chick," he explained with a cocksure grin. "Her boyfriend decked me. Buuuuuut…I got her name! Ooh, I should write her a letter!"

_He's still acting_, she realized.

Anko sighed and, grabbing Naruto's shoulders, directed him into a seat at the table. She snatched a quill out from under a book and placed it in his hand. He promptly began writing on the cover of a book. She slapped his hand to get him to stop and then placed it onto a piece of paper.

"Dear Mi-zu-mi…or was it Mazami?" he wondered aloud, his face suddenly thoughtful and worried. "Masami? Fuck!"

She chuckled and casually took a peak over his shoulder.

_What is he trying to say?_ she wondered. To her dismay, most of it was just scribbles, piss-poor attempts at words that might as well have been written by a drunk.

"I don't think she can read that," she remarked.

She quickly put a new sheet in front of him, filled the quill back up with ink, and then gently wrapped her hand around his and held it firmly against the paper and the table. Naruto blinked a few times and then slowly began tracing kanji.

Once he'd gotten into a rhythm, Anko let go and set about finding Gouzen. She wandered through the kitchen and living room before finally spotting him in the bathroom rifling through their medical kit.

He glanced up at her approach with a worried look on her face and mouthed, "_What the hell?_"

She shook her head and motioned for him to follow her. As they made their way back over to Naruto, Anko desperately tried to figure out what was happening. Naruto's eye thing was undoubtedly his Kekkei Genkai acting up, she knew, though she'd never seen it that bad. In fact, Naruto's Kekkei Genkai hadn't ever done anything like this before they'd been hospitalized. Could Konoha have done something to him Naruto while he was unconscious?

"Perfect!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly.

Anko twitched at the outburst and glanced at Naruto. His eyes had stopped spinning, she noticed, and they looked as clear and brilliant as ever. Proudly, he picked up his "letter" between his index finger and thumb and waved it at them.

"Check it out," he said.

She snatched it out of his hands and ran her eyes over it quickly. The first half of the page was almost indecipherable. Most of the kanji had been crossed out by Naruto, presumably after he'd gotten his eyes under control. Those that weren't could barely be called words. She quickly moved on to the bottom half and started reading. Without realizing, her mouth slowly began to fall open and her eyes began to grow wider and wider. She almost dropped it when she saw Jiraiya's name. It slipped out of her hands entirely when she read the final, resounding conclusion to Naruto's plan.

"Lemme see!" Gouzen demanded. He clumsily tossed the kit onto the table and snatched the letter off the ground. Only moments later, Anko heard him mutter, "In the name of Leader-sama…"

Naruto grinned toothily and, despite having not activated his Kekkei Genkai, his eyes seemed to glow red with mischief and victory. He leaned back and asked, "So, think I have a shot with her?"

* * *

**A/N****: **I'm worried Gouzen might have become willing to help Naruto a bit too quickly. But, I figured he'd recognize that he really doesn't have many other alternative options besides just up and abandoning the mission. Let me know if you feel this is still too abrupt.

The phrase about empowering subordinates that both Naruto and Sarutobi say is identical on purpose. I think it's interesting that a lesson Sarutobi passed down to all the students he had over the years would find its way to Naruto.

Sorry if the dialogue between Masahiro and Sarutobi got too dry or technical. I wanted to make sure what they were doing was scientific and possible (or at least as plausible and realistic as anything in a universe with "chakra" can be). It might seem silly to try and apply logic to a universe that has as many, er, "stretches" as the Naruto canon does, but I think it makes everything more interesting. I also thought it'd be cool to see how Sarutobi is still a teacher to the Takai Jounin, despite how powerful and learned they are now.

As always, let me know what I did well and what I can improve on. For example, I mentioned earlier that I had doubts about Gouzen agreeing too quickly. Another problem could be that Jiraiya's appearance seemed contrived and too sudden (no pun intended). Again, let me know about these problems (in a constructive manner please :]).

Thanks,

Oramo


End file.
